Sow What You Reap Is Now Available!

Good morning everyone (morning where I live). Finally, the first book of the Reaping Covetous series is available for purchase. At this point, it is available on digital only on Kindle/Amazon. There is a print version that should be available in the next week or two. I ordered some proofs of it first to make sure everything looks right. I should get those in by the end of this week and if they look good then I’ll okay the final product for paperback.

This has been a long time coming, or at least I feel that way. I’ll be honest, it’s a weird feeling—lots of work, anticipation, and waiting. I wanted to be really excited yesterday when I got the book uploaded but I felt more queasy than anything. Also tired. Formatting the book was fun with the use of Vellum. From what I’ve read, prior to that kind of software, formatting was anything but fun. The difficult part (for me) was getting it uploaded into Kindle. That took about 3 hours and by the end I just wanted to be done. I think it’s one of those things in life that has a rather large learning curve and then once you travel the path, it becomes easier. Since I’m a newbie, I had to keep looking up terms and making sure I understood the questions. I’m still not convinced I did it all correctly, but again—learning curve.

At this point, there should be 7 books in the series. Currently I am in the middle of writing book 6. Book 2, “Dead Women Tell Tales” should be out mid to late October. My hope was to be able to get the first 3 books out within 1 month of each other and, baring any major catastrophe, I believe I should be able to stick with that schedule.

On other news, Fennik had another birthday at the end of August. He is now a whopping three years old. I can’t believe it’s been that long since he first graced the earth with his presence. I was going to put up a blog post with his latest birthday picture, but I was so busy getting the first book ready that I kept putting it off until enough time had passed that it sort of slipped my mind all together. Sorry Fen Fen. Although, truth be told, I don’t imagine it bothers him much. He got some white cupcake for his birthday and a new hoof. He was a happy boy.

I sincerely hope you enjoy reading “Sow What You Reap”. I’ll put another post up when the paperback copy is available for purchase.

Until next time, stay healthy and as sane as possible. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or comments.

MJ May

Mutant Coneflowers

Happy summer everyone! This picture is from my garden. In a previous post, I spoke of my love for coneflowers. That hasn’t changed and I’ve got a plethora of them blooming right now. And then there’s . . . this. I have no idea. There are a few of them that look similar in the garden. I’ve also got some coneflowers with (as best I can describe it) rolled up petals. It’s bizarre. It’s odd enough I wanted to use it for this post.

It’s been too long since I’ve posted anything. Life is getting the best of me right now. I’m still hard at work getting the Reaping Covetous Series out there. I feel like I’ve been saying that for a while now and there’s a reason for that—it’s because I have. The good news (at least for me) is that book one just came back from copy editing. It will go out for proofreading in a few weeks and then back to me to finish up and finally get released. The cover is currently in the works and I can’t wait to see it. I’m so very excited that this looks to be finally happening. In total, there will be seven books in the series. I’m currently busy on book number five.

Work is . . . work right now. The veterinary profession is in a real crisis. There simply aren’t enough of us to go around. And if general practice is having a struggle, the emergency field is close to a meltdown. Where I live, it’s not unusual for people to have to wait 5+ hours to be seen. I recently got an e-mail from a friend of mine who works in Connecticut (hi Lisa!) and she says it’s as bad there if not worse sometimes. This is a country wide issue and I can’t see a path out of it. All I can say is please have patience with us. We really are doing the best we can with what we have. I know it’s frustrating but please try and be kind. And if you can’t be kind, then don’t be cruel or take it out on the receptionists that have no control over the situation. The strain is starting to affect all of us.

I’m thankful to say my pets are doing just fine. As I write this, Newton is sitting on my arm and making it very difficult to type. He doesn’t understand when I tell him, “mommy’s working”. I’m expecting the paw to my face any minute. He’s taken to doing that, as if sitting on my arm isn’t informative enough that he’s there. He doesn’t intentionally put his claws out (by the way, I just got the paw to the cheek), but they still scratch and don’t feel the best when he does it. I’ve gotten used to keeping one eye on him and when he starts to reach out, I lean back, hopefully out of the way.

That’s all for now. I’ll try and be better about updating. Unfortunately, my fingers aren’t what they used to be and I spend most of my days off writing. By the time I’ve gotten that done, my fingers, hands, and wrists are crap and typing is really hard. That’s life though. We push through it to do what we love.

Stay well and I hope your garden’s are growing well—mutant flowers or no. BTW, in my state, we’ve been told not to feed the birds anymore. Evidently there is some disease that’s killing off the songbirds. Many have died and necropsy isn’t very illuminating as to the cause. To try and help stem the passing of whatever disease this is, the DNR has asked us not to feed them anymore. It’s sad. I just started feeding them this year and really enjoyed it. I miss them. So do the cats. They really enjoyed watching the birds as well as the squirrels and chipmunks the food drew to the area. Sigh . . . so much for kitty enrichment.

MJ May

A Sad Anniversary

Today is a rough day for me. Three years ago I had to say goodbye to my dog, Georgia (todays posted picture). Just past fourteen years old, Georgia had gotten to the point where there were just too many fires to put out with her health. Her quality of life was diminishing daily. It was an agonizing decision and yet at the same time, it was a simple one to make. I felt then, as I still do now, that it was the last kindness I could give her. It was the final decision I would make as her caretaker, as her pet parent, and as a human who desperately loved their dog and would have given anything to have her with me for another fifty years or more.

Georgia and I met when she was nine weeks old. At the time I was living in Virginia and traveled to Maryland to get her. I remember our first meeting well. On the way to see her for the first time, her breeder told me how wonderful Georgia was doing with potty training, that she seemed to understand the concept well and how proud she was of her. Unfortunately when we entered the room she was in, Georgia was proudly sitting next to a pile of poo. It was the first of many moments of laughter she and I shared over the next fourteen years.

I’ve often wondered what made Georgia so special to me, why it broke my heart to lose her and why three years later I still feel the echo of her loss. Without a doubt, she was a wonderful, loving dog. She was kind, forgiving, and beautiful. She was also annoyingly stubborn. During the summer, Georgia wasn’t content inside or outside. I’m sure my neighbors wanted to toss her into the river on more than one occasion when she wouldn’t stop barking. She never slept through the night and for fourteen years I got up at least once, normally twice with her to let her out and try and sooth her. In some ways, she was imperfectly perfect.

The last year of her life was difficult. By that time Georgia was on several different medications for her heart. She had cognitive dysfunction and would pace the kitchen at night. For two years there was a light on in the kitchen 24-7. She was deaf, her eyesight was poor and each day she seemed a little more confused than the last. My days revolved around going to work and caring for her. She had certain meds in the morning, lunchtime and at night. I was up multiple times each night with her and often laid in bed unable to sleep as I listened to her listlessly wander the kitchen floor, toenails clacking, baby gates cordoning off the exits from the kitchen and containing her.

Three years ago today, it was finally time to let her go. As a veterinarian, I euthanized her myself. It was difficult and I did it through dripping tears, whispering words she could no longer hear. She was cremated and her box sits on my mantle, along with the two cats (Phoenix and Luna) she lived with. The first night she was gone, I couldn’t bear to turn the kitchen light off. The next night I cried while flipping a switch that hadn’t been touched in more than two years.

I planted a sycamore tree in her memory. There’s a previous blog with its picture. Some might think that an odd choice, but there’s a large, mature sycamore tree in my front yard and in the fall, Georgia would get the leaves stuck to her head, each leaf so large that it covered her face. Each time she came carting one up to the house I’d laugh. Since that time, I purchase a hyacinth to commemerate her passing. Georgia wouldn’t care about them, but I’ve always liked hyacinths and I plant them outside the front door after they’ve bloomed. Give me another ten years and I’ll have a hyacinth wonderland out there.

The passing time has dulled some of my grief, or perhaps put it into perspective. I have another Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Those of you visiting and reading my blog have seen multiple pictures of Fennik posted. I love Fennik. He’s silly and sweet, and yet I have been unable to bond with him the way I did Georgia and I don’t know why. I’ve often felt guilty about this. Interestingly I find that a lot of my clients feel similarly with their own pets. What is it about that one pet, that one nonhuman companion that digs a hole into our heart, filling it up when they’re with us and leaving it hollow when they’re gone?

Like so many other answers in life, that one eludes me. What I do know is that I cherish my memories of Georgia. This day is hard, but in some ways, that’s the way it should be. As I tell clients all the time, if it’s not difficult to let them go, then we never should have had them in the first place.

MJ May

BRRRR . . . It’s Cold Out There

Happy February everyone. Not sure what the weather is like where you live, but it is freezing here. I got up this morning and the temperature outside was a whopping one degree. Later this week the low is supposed to be below zero. Once you get down into that category, no matter how you slice it, it’s cold. I don’t mind wearing my mask all the time with temperatures like that. At least it helps keep my nose warm. In case anyone is interested, today’s picture is of the Japanese maple outside my front window. I woke up the other morning to this view and thought it was pretty.

As far as the writing front is concerned, I got book #2 of the Reaping Covetous series back from the editor last weekend. It went for content review and she seems pleased with it. Enough so that the editor doesn’t think I need to change anything major in book #1 so that makes me super happy. Amazingly I finished writing book #3 yesterday. It still needs a lot of tweaking and I need to write the epilogue for it but the basic format is done. Right now it’s around 90,000 words and I finished it in a little less than two months. I worked really hard to do that and have given myself more than a few pats on the back. Normally it would take me over four months to write something of that length and that’s what I figured when I told the editor when to pencil book #3 in for content editing so it won’t go until late April. That’s okay because I still have so much to figure out to actually get it published and out there for people to hopefully read. If the schedule holds, the books should start going back to the editor starting in mid May for line editing and polishing up. Right now it’s my hope to get book #1 out in late summer/early fall. I was reading some statistics about book publishing the other day (BTW, don’t do that if you’re looking for something uplifting). On average over a thousand books are published each day on Amazon. That’s a lot of books! Right now I figure this is sort of like my hobby and I doubt I’ll make much money on the endeavor. Most likely I’ll be lucky to break even but I’m still doing it. It’s interesting. More than the money, I just really want people to read what I’ve written, to fall in love with my characters the same way I have. To do that you have to sell books so I suppose the two go hand in hand.

Veterinary work is going all right. Currently we are in our “slower” part of the year. And in some ways it is although not as slow as years past. A lot of it will depend on the upcoming weather and more to the point, road conditions. People don’t like getting out unless they have to when the roads are slick. I have CE conference in a couple of weeks and like so many conferences, this one will be virtual and I’ll be staying at home, glued to my computer. In a way I like this set up as I don’t have to try and find housing and care for my pets. On the other hand I’m really afraid I’m going to fall asleep at the computer screen, especially in the afternoon after lunch. I think the conference is 4-5 days long so we’ll see how I do. Hopefully I learn some new things that I can put into practice.

As an aside on the veterinary front, Friday I read the latest statistics on indebtedness for graduating veterinary students and the numbers are abysmal. Currently the median indebtedness is over $170,000 with a debt to income ratio over 2:1 (average starting salary for baby vets is about $80,000). That is an unsustainable trend. Some of these students are graduating with as high as over $300,000 in debt. That’s having a huge house mortgage with no roof over your head. I feel for these kiddos. For comparison (in case anyone is interested), I graduated in 2002 and was pretty average for indebtedness at the time with around $60,000. That was a lot then and I can’t believe what it has ballooned to now. It’s a huge problem and one that’s going to bite the collective veterinary profession in its ass pretty soon.

For now that’s all. I’m going to try and update at least monthly, hopefully with news about my upcoming series, Reaping Covetous. I’m so excited to finally be doing something with my writing. Besides my pets, it’s my joy in life. And at least my written characters don’t puke on the carpet (Newton and Copernicus) or try and eat my carpet (Fennik).

Until next time, stay safe, warm (if you’re in the northern hemisphere), well and sane.

MJ May

Fennik All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

Happy New Year everyone! I know we are all hoping it’s a better one than 2020. I’m not holding my breath on that one, but hey, I’ll be more than happy if it is better. Today’s post picture is of Fennik (Fen Fen). I have no idea why I decided to buy this costume for him, other than it was a total whim. This picture wasn’t even taken around Halloween. I found the costume about a month ago when I was grocery shopping. I had to jet down the pet aisle for cat litter and there it was – a sombrero and poncho. It said for medium to large breed dogs. Let’s just say it barely fit Fen Fen. Anyways, he looked super cute. The sombrero kind of scrunched his eyes but he was a trooper and put up with the ten minutes or so of dress up. BTW, that’s me holding him. I’m in my work get up, which is far less than the work get up my sister has to wear (she’s a critical care nurse and takes care of COVID patients, amongst other medical conditions).

Veterinary work is still going strong, although it has let up a little. Winter is normally our slower time. We’ll see how this year goes considering how busy we were for most of this past year. I expect tomorrow will be packed, especially after all of the holiday breaks over the past couple of weeks. Last week I did have an interesting case, or maybe I should say finding. It was something I haven’t seen in the 18+ years I’ve been a practicing vet. I had a client bring in his little dog, a person and pet I’ve seen multiple times in the past. He had several issues he wanted me to look at, one of them being that her breath smelled worse than usual. Given that she’s a smaller breed, periodontal disease seemed most likely, especially given the fact she seemed to be feeling relatively well otherwise. I did my normal look inside the mouth and thought, “WTF is that?” Stuck between her upper right premolar 4 and molar one, kind of like a strange type of dental floss, were a couple of those plastic “I” shaped tag holders, the ones you have to cut off when you get them a new, stuffed (cloth) toy. I pulled them out, some foul smelling hair and a little blood coming along for the ride. I couldn’t believe she hadn’t been acting bothered by it. It looked to me like part of it was poking her inner cheek. I think it all came out all right. She was a good girl and let me do all of that without sedation or much of a flinch. Something like that stuck between my teeth would have driven me nutty bunnies. Lesson learned: make sure to get all the tags off plus their plastic bits and pieces!

As far as my other, hopefully burgeoning profession (writing), I got the first edit (content edit) back on book one of the Reaping Covetous series. So far I really like this editor. I appreciated her comments. She brought up things I never in a million years would have thought of. The editor I’ve hired thinks I need to have the first 3 books in the series written and ready to publish within a couple months of each other before putting the first one out there. I think she has a good point. The second book is done and should go out for its content editing in a week or two. I just started the third book. This is the first time writing has actually seemed like a job. I’m determined to get book 3 done by the first of April. That may seem like a lot of time, but for me it isn’t. I’m not the fastest writer. Working full time makes it tough to get days where I can sit down and write. I also have a big issue with my hands/fingers holding up with that much typing. I didn’t win out in the joint genetic lotto. This past week I’ve been on a mission, trying to prove to myself that I can do this. I’ve got about 25,000 words written for book 3 in one week. Normally, on a good week, I’d write about half that. My hands and wrists aren’t especially happy about the process. Frankly, it pisses me off. The mind is willing, the body not so much. I’d hoped to get book one published by the end of winter/first of spring. Now it looks like maybe summer at the earliest.

Not much else for now. I titled Fen Fen’s picture as all dressed up with nowhere to go because I bet that’s how a lot of us felt over the holidays. Fingers crossed that next year will be better and that we’ll get to mingle with our friends and family from closer than six feet and without the lovely addition of a mask. We’ll get there. I’m not exactly sure when, but we will. I’ll keep repeating that to myself until I believe it.

As always, take care and stay sane. For those of you visiting from the fanfiction world, I’ve almost got all of “Intervention, Thy Name is Bakusen’O” up on AO3. When it’s done, I’ll start work on transferring another Inuyasha/Sesshomaru story over.

MJ May

Handsome Newton

Hello everyone – long time, no post. With Facilitate Your User completely posted, I haven’t been updating anything weekly. I wish I had a new story to post, but sadly that is not the case. Today’s picture is of Newton. I put this picture as the wallpaper on my phone recently and it cropped it nicely. Newton really loves sitting in this window. The red in the background is the japanese maple outside. All the leaves were gone less than two days later. This was sort of that “last hoorah” for foliage and flowers.

On the writing front, I sent my Reaping Covetous manuscript to the editor yesterday for its first round. I believe this one is a content editing. This is my first time through all of this so I’m not entirely certain what all that entails but think it is probably self explanatory. The editor has 3 weeks to return it and then I look over her suggestions, change what I want and send it back for a line editing. Again, the editor has 3 weeks to return it to me and same process again. It goes for a third and final time. After that I need to get a different person to proofread it. I still need to look into getting a book cover, downloading the formatting software and how to get it uploaded to book selling sites. Sigh . . . still lots to do and I’m assuming a big learning curve as well. My hope (fingers silently crossed) is that I can get the first book out at the end of winter or early spring of 2021. The second book is already basically written and I have a January date for it to go out for its first editing process. So much to do . . . well, you know the rest of the saying.

On the veterinary front, we have still been very busy. Last week I euthanized the second police dog of my eighteen year career. This time around, I knew a little more what to expect, but they are still emotionally draining. For those of you whom don’t know, police dogs are considered officers and when one of them is euthanized, it’s a very big deal. The dog’s arrive with a police escort – lights flashing and usually at least 10 cars long. Our parking lot is packed with policeman in their dress blues. When the dog has passed, they gather in the room, drape an American flag over the dog and carry them out. Then they leave in the same caravan, lights flashing on their way to the funeral home for cremation of their fallen canine officer. I’ve seen a lot of men cry in my career. I don’t know why, and I don’t want for this to sound sexist, but it is almost always more difficult, seeing men verses women cry. I always tell them it’s okay. That if there is anyone they can cry around regarding the loss of their pet, it’s me. Seeing normally rock steady police officers with tears running down their faces is difficult. I cried right along with them and when they left, the clinic was silent as a tomb, all of us standing by the windows as the caravan passed us by.

Sometimes, life is hard. Right now it’s harder than ever. Even the things that are supposed to bring us joy. The holidays that are supposed to be events we look forward too, are more stressful than usual. Should you gather or shouldn’t you. And if you do, how can you keep everyone as safe as possible. This year, I had Thanksgiving at my house. My older Aunt and Uncle decided not to come and I totally understood. My sister, her husband, their two kids and my mom and dad came over. My parents see my sister, brother-in-law and my niece and nephew almost daily so I kind of think of the six of them as “one unit”. Everyone wore masks when we couldn’t be separated. I ate at a different end of the kitchen than them and then we played a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit. It’s a good game for social distancing as I stayed on one end of the living room and they all stayed on the other. After they left, I went through the house spraying everything down with Lysol. We tried to be as safe as possible while still trying to enjoy each others company. Not sure if we were right or wrong, but that was our compromise this Thanksgiving. I’m guessing we’ll do something similar for Christmas but I suppose time will tell.

On that note, I’ll sign off. As always, I’m wishing you all well. Stay healthy – both physically and mentally. Hopefully a vaccine is on the way. We all have to dig in and hold on for the next few months. It’ll be a long winter, but we can do it!

MJ May

Epilogue of Facilitate Your User Posted

Happy post election everyone! Do all of you feel as hung over as me, without the benefit of the alcoholic high? I finally slept well for the first time in about six days. It’s been a rough ride and I have no illusions the next couple of months aren’t going to be a complete and total shit show, but for now at least, I’m trying to take a deep breath while I can.

I posted the epilogue of Facilitate Your User. It wraps things up and also hints at a future series. I have a difficult time writing a single story without looking further into the characters’ lives and wanting to continue them. When I write, I think in series. With that said, I do think this one wraps up well enough to end here. I have not started a second book and am not sure if I will or not. I suppose it depends on how my future as a writer does, or does not go. Right now I am concentrated on getting my Reaping Covetous series off the ground. The first book goes to the editor at the end of November and I am really hoping to get it out there late winter/early spring. More to come on that front (hopefully).

Today’s picture is regarding the “leaf situation” at my house. A week ago we had a day of wind, wind and more wind. Halloween night, my drive and steps were clear. By the end of the following day, it looked like this. I couldn’t even see the bottom half of the steps leading up to the house and at some points, the leaves were about knee high (and I’m around 5’8”). It was a lot. It also provided a somewhat cathartic physical outlet post election day. I generally have Wednesday’s off from work and this past week was no different. Not wanting to even venture anywhere near the television, I spent a better chunk of the day raking and bagging leaves. My car barely fits in the garage right now, the walls lined with bags of leaves. I’ll put them out on the curb for pick up this week. It was a lot of work, but the weather was nice and it was good to get me out of the house and my mind away from the worry of our country’s future.

As tapped out as my brain is, I don’t think I have much more to say today. I’m also not sure if I will continue to post and update weekly or maybe every 2 weeks or so. Currently I don’t have another story to start posting but I’ll still try and keep up with the blog for those interested. I really hope those of you reading Facilitate Your User have enjoyed it. I like Keylee and Paul and hope to revisit their futures soon (always a relative term). I love sharing my characters with people. Always feel free to drop me a review/comment. I like hearing from you.

As always, please take care – body and soul. Take a deep breath, eat something you love and don’t feel guilty about it, pet your furry friends and take a minute to enjoy the sun on your face.

Thank you for reading.

MJ May

Chapter Twenty-Four of Facilitate Your User Posted

Happy Halloween everyone! I’m posting a little earlier than usual, mostly because I’m trying to get back into the routine of writing and wanted to have ample time tomorrow morning to do that. I just posted the final normal chapter of Facilitate Your User. There is still a small epilogue which I’ll post next week. More sexy times are ahead for Paul and Keylee, so be warned.

Today’s photo is courtesy of my new tile, with a healthy dose of Newton on the side. I had this past week off and it was a sort of working, staycation. I did get all the rooms painted, furniture shifted, moved and put back. The pictures were taken down and rehung. My body came out of the whole thing fairly unscathed. I few new bruises here and there, including one above my left eye where a few inches more ventral and medially would have been a hell of a lot more serious (got to watch our for those pesky table legs when they are turned upside down and laying on top of the bed). All in all things went okay. There were a few glitches but nothing that derailed the whole project. Mostly it was exhausting in the anxiety inducing way. I like the end product and evidently Newton likes the tile, or at least he likes laying on it.

I was off work, but it didn’t feel like it. Monday and Tuesday I took Fennik into the clinic so he would be out of the house. This meant dealing with messages on my desk and trying to triage a couple of things here and there. I also went in Monday night to euthanize a long time patient that had suddenly decompensated. I didn’t have to do it, but I wanted to. That might sound strange to some, but I think most veterinarians would understand. I spent a lot of time with both the dog and her owners and I felt like it was the last kindness I could do for them. It was heartbreaking but very needed.

The city I live in is still having trick or treat tonight. I usually have several and this year I made sure to go on-line to check out the recommended guidelines. I did what they recommended and packaged up my individually wrapped candies in little plastic baggies and set them down on a fold out table at the base of the steps leading up to my house. I left a note for the trick or treaters, placed a pumpkin and candle illuminated cat light on the table as well. It wasn’t an enormous amount of work, but there was some effort put into it. Sadly, at this point I don’t know that there have been any trick or treaters out. Sigh. I understand if they don’t venture out this year, but I was really hoping for some and tried to make things as safe as possible.

On a final note, I’m back to work this week, but more importantly, it’s election week. I did early voting this past week. I waited in line for about an hour and forty five minutes. Not as long as a lot of people, I know. I have huge anxiety for the coming week and the ones after. I really don’t know what to expect. I know who I want to win and who I fear will win. I also know that I fear the result of either outcome. The tinderbox is set and ready to be lit and there is more than one individual ready to flick their Bic.

As always, I hope you are all staying well. Be safe out there and try and keep your cool, no matter which way things go. I probably should have purchased some alcohol based products while I was at the grocery this morning. I have a sneaking suspicion I’m going to be in need of some self medicating this week.

MJ May

Chapter Twenty-Three of Facilitate Your User Posted

Chapter twenty-three is sweet, but also a return to sexy times – be warned! Facilitate Your User is wrapping up. There is one more normal chapter to post and then a quick epilogue. I hope you’ve been enjoying the story thus far and continue to read until the end.

Today is another Halloween decor photo of my house. The nighttime photos of the blinking “critter eye lights” didn’t turn out well. I was kind of bummed about that as I think in person, they look great. I took some video of them but am really not sure how to post that on here so for now that will have to remain absent. FYI, the metal pumpkins in this picture do light up. Once again, thanks go to my dad on that one. Yes, Kathy, he is one talented fella.

I’m in painting mode the next couple of days. I posted last week that I’m repainting the 3 bedrooms (one of which is more the computer/cat room). I’ve only got one done. Today I’ll do the second and tomorrow the third. I sincerely hope my body holds up for this painting marathon. Only one way to find out and that’s to get on with it. Thankfully I have this week off work. It feels weird. I hardly ever take time off and rarer still, a whole week. It’s a staycation and a working one at that. Still, it’s good to get some time off. I worked yesterday so you’d think the routine would be normal but my brain is already discombobulated. I’m partially blaming the fact my bedroom is a strange mess with everything scooted to the center of the room.

Painting with pets (that sounds like a PBS show) is difficult. They want to be where the action is, in this case, that action would be me with a paint roller. And it seems they also want to become a part of the action too. I really thought I did a good job yesterday keeping them out of the paint (I primed the walls in my bedroom). Well, in the light of the following day, that certainly is not true. Fen Fen is sporting some rather impressive white patches where he should be a ruddy tan and Newton has a similar patch on what should be a brown tail. So far it looks like Coperinicus is the only paint free critter.

I suppose if that’s the worst that comes of my painting fiasco then I should count my blessings. Fen Fen gets groomed this week so hopefully they can work some magic there. Dog grooming – now there is a physically demanding job. I don’t envy them one iota but am very grateful for all they do.

That’s all for today. I hope you have a safe and candy/trick or treater filled Halloween. In these fun filled COVID times, I’m not sure what all the rules for trick or treating are in different parts of the country. Come to think of it, this year I’m actually not sure what the rules are for where I live. Hmmm . . . that seems like something I should get on. I did buy candy so I’m prepared for whatever eventuality.

Be well, my friends and wish me luck painting!

MJ May

Chapter Twenty-Two of Facilitate Your User Posted

Happy almost Halloween everyone! Ready for Paul’s User exam? I hope so because this chapter is it!

Today’s picture is of my own personal skeleton crew. My dad cut these out, painted them and surprised me with them a few years ago. Bless his heart, he was so proud of them and excited because he painted them with a type of paint that was supposed to glow in the dark. It sort of did, but not enough that you could really tell. Despite his disappointment about the lack of glow, I really like them and they’ve been a Halloween decor staple for the past few years.

I started repainting the bedrooms in my house yesterday. I wrote in an earlier post that I’m getting new carpet for most of the house and new tile in the foyer. I am actually taking a whole week off work the last week of October and this is when the new flooring is supposed to be going in. I’m trying to repaint the bedrooms before that time. I have learned (the very hard, frustrating and making more work for yourself way) that doing test samples of paint on the wall, while irritating, pays off in the end. Because of that, I have all sorts of colorful (and not so colorful) patches of paint going on in now 2/3 rooms. It was 3/3 but I got the computer/cat room painted yesterday. I have to say, right now, I’m pleased with the color. It is a small room and I went pretty dark, but I like it kind of moody in here. It’s where I write and spend a lot of my time.

I was more than a little afraid of how my body would hold up painting (I’ve got bone spurs in both shoulders) but am happy to say that I’m feeling A-okay this am after yesterday’s marathon room painting. I am hoping that is a good sign for the other two rooms.

I am anxiously awaiting the new flooring going in. Like many other areas of the US, we are having a spike in the number of COVID cases in my area. Friday we had 2 clients call and cancel their appointments because they were ill with a fever. A clinic just a few miles from us has been closed for the last week and a half due to a COVID illness. Currently we are still allowing clients into the building – only two per pet and they must be masked, but I have a feeling that is going to change sometime in the near future and we will be back to only curbside. Selfishly, I hope all the flooring folks stay well and can get my job done. I also hope I can stay well and don’t have to cancel on them.

As a somewhat worrisome aside, one of the clients that canceled is a neighbor of mine and she’s also a nurse. I am always wishing our healthcare workers the very best. My sister is a RN and she works on the critical care floor of one of the major hospital’s in our state capitol. I worry about her as she is diabetic and also a smoker. It is an ongoing battle, trying to keep the mind and body healthy. I’m glad I have a socially distant, safe option for trying to keep my mind occupied – writing. Although, I haven’t been getting as much of that done as I’d like given how busy I’ve been. Hopefully I can get back to it soon.

Until next week, stay sane and remember to vote! Currently I’m planning to do early voting during the week I have off. Fingers crossed that plan doesn’t need to change.

MJ May