These are many evenings after Alison and the little dogs go to bed, Cocoa Bear stares at me. She knows if she keeps it up, I might give her snacks.
Ok, there's no maybe to it. I give her snacks. She has her cognitive treats, a joint health treat, and some soft chew dog treats. Look, she's fifteen. I'll feed her whatever she wants.
She had a rough go about a month ago - barely able to walk, very disoriented. But she is much better now with the vet's help and our love and care. Yes, she's old. Yes, she gets confused. Yes, she moves slowly and takes long naps. But she's a good dog, likes to be with me, and eats well.
UPDATE ON BOOK SALES:
I got my check! After OHC's commission, I took home a whopping $39.75! Don't laugh. That's $39.75 more than I made last year!
I need to reorder more copies of my books so I can do it again. If you are interested in my books, please check Amazon. Most are available for no charge if you use Amazon Kindle Unlimited. I know I will never get rich doing it, but it is fun to have readers.
Wish me luck in reorganizing my life to write more.
UPDATE ON BENJAMIN
Benjamin is in the 6th week of his 6-week internship with Warner Robins Air Force base. He has garnered a full-time position after the internship is over. He'll have to transition from dorm housing to an apartment by July 28th. We helped him look some last weekend, but he still needs to secure a place. Sometimes, as parents of a young adult, you have to learn to step back and let them find their own way. It ain't easy.
UPDATE ON THE LIBRARY
Alison and I have grown to love our local libraries very much! We participate in two book clubs, the Mystery Book Club and the True Crime Book Club. It's a great joy to be discussing books with fellow readers. And we often go off-topic! Some people read the hard copy, some use e-readers, some use audio, some watch a related program, and some just bluff. It's all good!
Alison goes up to a knitting/crochet group once a week. I read children's stories at the Pierce County Library. I love reading aloud to people, especially children. I do female-voiced characters sometimes. I guess I can get away with it because I'm not in drag. Drag StoryTime may not be my thang as a performer, but believe me, I got no problem with it.
Another new great thing about the Library is that they have added access to the Kanopy streaming service. I'll post a blog soon about how absolutely awesome that is!
UPDATE ON GRACE EPISCOPAL
We have a priest in charge now, contracted for the next seven months (or six - I'm not sure). He is Father Donald Holland, who is a friend and a Waycross resident.
My favorite thing to do in church is read the Lector's reading and/or Prayers of the People. Reading aloud - it's what I enjoy most.
My desire to be involved with the church ebbs and flows. Right now, I am more at an ebb. I have less enthusiasm about it right now. Maybe soon, the feeling will come back.
UPDATE ON THE TRUMPOCALYPSE
One of the things that I've learned in the True Crime Book Club is how long even the most obvious killers take to come to trial. The most recent we read took six years for an arrest and another three years to go to trial.
What does that mean? My hope is that Trump would have completed trials and verdicts before the Presidential Campaign got into swing.
Those hopes are dashed. It has been so slow to get indictments, and then you find out it will be months or even years before the trial, even under the best circumstances. Right now, all we're seeing is why wealth and privilege rule all in our society. Trump's major tactic is to obfuscate, lie, draw attention to others, and most of all - delay, delay, delay! And his plan is working.
If only conservatives would turn on him instead of trying to shuffle the last deck chairs on the Titanic.
But I've hoped for that for almost eight years now. I guess it's not gonna happen. I guess they'll just turn a federal (or state) prison into a White House.
Wanderingly Yours,
T. M. Strait
