[As usual, three weeks lag here, if you aren’t reading this on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/blazeward). If you’d like your news fresher, and the monthly Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter, all I ask is a buck to help keep the lights on around here.]
Ow.
The barn remodel is coming along nicely, but ow. Up and down ladders. Impact hammer to drive 3” screws into old wood that has dried and hardened to something like concrete. Chop saw. Table saw. Jig saw.
Ow.
I did buy and install a pair of windows. One a transom over the front door, about 8 feet up. The other taking up the back where a horse would come and go. That latter had been covered by a green tarp for as long as I’ve owned the property. (Michael died in late 2006 and I bought the place in 2010. Probably 25 years old at this point.)
Sometime in the next week or two, got a friend hauling a couple yards of gravel as part of a much larger load that he’ll drop here and I’ll put it under the floor to keep critters out. Then build up a floor.
Not sure on the artistic side of things. After emptying out the bay initially, and collecting some stuff from Middle Step Daughter, I have a good deal of hardwood flooring in three different colors, widths, and thicknesses. And woods. Seven long tiles (9”x38” in some metric value I haven’t converted.) Seventy-some 1sqft white tiles.
Next stage is finishing off the Inside Wall™. Inside (touching bay 2), Outside, Front, Back. Inside is made up of raw cut 2x14s that are 12 feet long, stacked against a structural 4×4 and running up. Gaps at the top I’m filling in and then covering this week.
We wandered around the hardware store yesterday, looking at wood, tile, and lights, mostly because wiring and then lights are coming up soon. (Inside wall pretty, then floor, then power, I think.)
At some point, I’ll blackmail my artist friends. Inside wall is probably an art project with leftover hardwood flooring. Other three walls might need art. And I’ll need a hanging sign outside for the whole pub thing.
Still rude to replace an Irish Bar with an English Pub, so we alternatively have called it a Cidery, a Meadery, and a Longhall (9×12’ is long enough for my needs.)
Going to have apples soon, so planning to make cider. Then make hard cider. Then probably applejack, because why the hell not? Same with some mead.
If you wanna contribute art or labor and live close enough, gimme a yell. Battle of Hastings was 14 October, so I’m hoping to at least soft open by then. 6-7 weeks, give or take, so I ought to have most of it done.
I am, however, out of shape, and this will get me back. But ow.
Doesn’t help that I started studying Goju-ryu karate in my spare time. It is also using new muscles and my legs hurt, but I’m enjoying it and moving forward slowly. The goal is always to be able to move and do kata when I’m 90, still flexible in body and mind.
Because once you settle, you’ll start to decompose.
Writing: Wrote most of the B4B draft last week. Got a few holes. Got a few places where the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ is going to write chunks because she’s the expert there. Got too much material, but this will be the basis for a talk I’m supposed to give at Author-Nation in November in Vegas on Breaking Discoverability. 30 minutes plus Q&A. I’m figuring the final manuscript comes up at 30-35k words. Way too much, but space to cover a lot of ground.
After I post this blog, I’ll figure out which of 4-5 short stories I need to write next. Got open slots for BSQ, TRM, and Patreon, so always have something to write. Just in a little pain today and distracted.
Some of you might remember Nissa and the Minefield. That’s going to be extended at some point. Might be next. Would go into BSQ in a year or so. (I forget how far ahead I am right now and am too lazy to go look it up as I type.)
Got two Boston stories done. Figure on two more for Thrill Ride. Maybe more. Maybe Chace.
Got other stuff. Editing Corsac Fox #5 (Lost Tribe) right now. March 2025 release. Then I might write #7 shortly and close off block one.
It’s a Monday, and I don’t have to have all the answers. How’s yours going?
shade and sweet water
b
West of the Mountains, WA
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