Coyotes Run Wild, Building a New Commune and Writing

Sue just called to tell me that there are coyotes at the bottom of their hill that have formed a home pretty much in their backyard. The household babysits Mozart for us and we babysit their pets so this is a really good warning not to just let any of the animals run around the huge property. 

I've been training for long distance walking because when we go to Colorado, there is going to be a great deal of hiking/biking and other touristy things. I still get tired after a couple miles. I don't know if that's normal. 

I'm practicing my Spanish while watching horror movies in Spanish. I'm still not sure if I'm learning Spain Spanish or Latin America Spanish. I know Crazy Cousin Nik explained it to me, but I'm not there in my studies to know the difference yet. The commune speaks Latin American Spanish and that's what they want me to focus on, but I think my lessons are Spain Spanish given that it's the flag that I see on Duolingo. 

I'm so proud of myself. I can speak in super simple sentences, but I keep dropping the "el, la, los", which I don't know why. Crazy Cousin Nik says that people will still be able to understand me, but I want to be fluent. I don't want to say, "I need telephone number" I want to say, "I need the telephone number." Please tell me I can get to that level! 

The people that I want to build a commune with are talking about finding a property out here in America if it gets too hard to travel out of America. We'd be pretty isolated from the world and I can't disagree on that. I'd like to rescue a few animals and just let nature be as wild as possible around us. It would be nice to be isolated from everything that's happening. They are really big about rescues too, so we'd probably have a few dogs for sure. 

I'm looking at old churches like Ann Rice did. I'm also looking at abandoned schools. It would be so cool to actually have a full house of people just traveling through. I don't know if that would put us all in danger having strangers come through, but it would be nice to build a community.

Ann found these super cool, super huge wall decorations. There are two in the set and they are going for $1,000, but this guy beat her to it. I told her I would love to have them. She said Darlene said the same thing. 😂

Isn't this awesome! I can imagine the conversations that would come from it. 

Writing Update:

Untitled Werewolf: Writing it from two POVs. I was wondering if it should only be from one POV. I honestly don't know if I can switch POVs in the story the way some authors can, so I'm just doing it this way to get the lay of the land and see what comes.

E.W. I'm working on editing chapter 2 now. It's been so long since I've worked on this book, I need to remind myself what was happening and I need to get a feel for the characters again. I love what I have so far. 

Unwanted Pets, Crazy Cousin Nik and Writing

We got new pets! Six of them to be exact though this picture doesn't show all of them! Okay.... maybe they are unwanted by most people and if they weren't so aggressive we would gladly share a porch with them, but wasps are very territorial. They are supposed to be removed sometime soon. My sister-in-law suggested putting peppermint on their nest. She's so earthy. I love it.

The news reported that it's advised that ten states don't drink coffee. Of course, we are one of those states so I had to click on the link to see why. What can I say, I was curious. So due to the heat, it's advised that we don't drink anything hot. I don't think California is bad compared to Arizona and Nevada. Ann says that no one is out during the day in Arizona. I remember those days. Who wants to be outside when the air conditioner just pushes hot air around the car. Nothing can break that heat once it hits. 

Sue just asked me what languages I'm studying on Duolingo. I asked her if she's got the app and she says she does but she hasn't started a language yet. I have tried so many languages, but it's hard. I don't think I can hear very well. I think that's why I don't always pronounce words the way people in America do. Crazy Cousin Nik has the same problem. People always ask the both of us what country we are from. It's funny, but also a little embarrassing because I might pronounce words a little differently.

I spoke with Crazy Cousin Nik for two hours. He's bloody amazing. He suggested that I start watching cartoons in Spanish because the language would be a little more simple to understand. It's not! I put Scooby Doo in Spanish thinking I'd recognize a lot of words. I understood a few words. I think every day I learn 20 new words, but right now those new words are still so foreign. 

Crazy Cousin Nik says he might be heading to Italy. It feels so good talking to someone about moving to another country. This isn't something I've really talked to a lot of people about. He's got such an incredibly full life so there is a lot he'd have to prepare in order to move. I'll miss him terribly if he does this. I wonder what it costs to text people in other countries. 

Writing Update:

C: Working on editing the 3,400 word chapter. I am guessing that it'll be about 4,000+ words when I'm done with editing. I don't know how I feel about the chapter because I've stopped day dreaming about the story. I don't think I've lost interest, but I have so much I want to write and this is now on the back burner.

F.G. : Working on editing the 1,192 word chapter. I've been day dreaming on this story a lot, but I'm not at the parts I keep rewriting in my head. I still like this story, but again, I want to write on new projects. 

Charities with Beers, Airplane Tickets and Writing

We decided not to go to the event at the California Science Museum. I really wanted to go for the museum and it's a beer event so Emory could enjoy that aspect. I can't drink beer because I have celiac disease and well, that's not a fun thing to have symptoms for. I've been gluten-free for five years and haven't felt better. I don't mind being the sober driver for this event; however, I don't really drive that far because the California Freeway scares the heaven into me and the museum is 22 miles from our starting point.

There is another event out here for an animal charity and it's much closer to home, about 5-7 miles maybe. I asked the Porter Commune to join us, but they are all so busy with golfing, theater, sailing, gardening.... Yeah, they are much busier than we are, but I did offer to be the sober driver because again, can't drink beer. That will be in August.

We still haven't booked our hotels for Colorado. We have our flight and our rental car. We really need to make time to finish setting this up. We've been so busy lately.

Crazy Cousin Nik put me on his family plan for Duolingo. This is so cool because it actually has better study guides. I'm trying to learn three languages. French isn't one of them, though Crazy Cousin Nik speaks very fluent French, and so does my moon sister. French is so hard. I tried, and I think I got fairly far in it, but the same with Spanish. I got really far, and then when we started working on verbs, I just had the hardest time. 

Sue, Ann, Steven, and Darlene speak Spanish very fluently. I wish I could get that good. Sue tries to speak to me in Spanish. Ann tries to explain the different verbs. I think I might start listening to children's stories in Spanish and listening to music in that language to really push my studies. 

I have some people in my life who want to build a commune with me. It would be so nice to live in a commune again. I told them we'd have to get bikes. 

Writing Update:

F#CK or Die: I'm working on chapter 2 as we speak. It's currently 1,600 words. I want to make it at least 2500 words. I am thinking about posting pieces of the PG portions up on my patreon. 

Medical Appointments, Ventura Beach and Writing

Sue and I drove around trying to find this doctor's office that I'm supposed to go to. It's interesting because it's inside a store. I thought, "Great, do they even have an office" because last time we were told to go to a store for medical, there was just a alcove. We found the place that I'm going to and I am relieved to see that they have a hallway behind a closed door, so I can have some privacy. Not that there is a lot that I'm worried about admitting. 

It's funny because Darlene and Sue are concerned that I have POTS, which is Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, because I just faint. It's one of the reasons I try not to go anywhere by myself. To onlookers, it's super scary and for me.... well, I don't always wake up so nicely. I'm confused. And last time I got super sick and couldn't stop vomiting. I got tested for POTS and they deemed that wasn't what I had. Go figure. I call it my little mystery element. 

I was lazy and didn't feel like getting more coffee, but Emory caught me sipping from his cup, so I had to go get my own. He's cool about it though, but he said he was still drinking it though slowly. 😋 I got another cup and offered to share mine but he went and made his own refill too. We have so many flavors. I'm so in love with coffee.

We took Mozart up to Ventura for the day, but it was so crowded, we weren't able to park. Ventura is about 45 minutes from where we live. We told the commune we'd come up and they said to go to Ventura first for a little bit. We had such a great time at the commune. I have posted pictures on my Patreon. 

I am working on a plan with my witchy best friend to get goals done. I meet with her on Sundays. 

She thinks if we leave we should head to Spain. I would love that. I think the universe is saying I need to do something big. Life is fleeting. I need to enjoy everything the best I can.  

Writing Update:

F.C: 400 words written, 3,500 word goal for the chapter. Lots of writing needs to be done.

C: 1,600 words written on 4,000 word goal. 

I need to plug in my speaker software and dictate my story into the word document. I have no idea what I'm really aiming for in life. It feels like I had this grand epiphany that maybe I'm taking unnecessary things too seriously and my goals aren't being taken seriously enough.