Catching up!
The past few years have been busy, chaotic, and stressful—but there’s also been a lot of fun as well.
We lost our beloved dog Jasper three years ago. He was older and had some health issues, so this was going to happen sooner or later, but it happened while we were over 3,000 miles away. It was incredibly sad, and it was really hard on Rosie. She would sit in the front room of the house all by herself, which she never did before. They were BFFs from the day I brought her home. The only time she really brightened was when we took her hiking.
Five months later we adopted Oscar. He and Rosie like each other. They’re not BFFs, but they like being around each other. They have a competitive running game they play when I take them hiking. We did the DNA test on both dogs—Rosie is 94.9% border collie (the rest is “border collie mix” :)) and Oscar is 80.2% border collie. He’s a sweet, friendly little guy, like Jasper, but their personalities are very different. Oscar loves people. Loves, loves, LOVES them. On the trail we have to keep an eye on him as he’ll go up to complete strangers wanting to be their friend, and of course not everyone is okay with that. He’s getting better at waiting until I tell him it’s okay to visit, and has a group of “friends” where if I see them up ahead I’ll say “Go say hi!” and he’ll run up to them and get petted. Rosie wants nothing to do with any of this, but she has learned which of Oscar’s friends carry treats.
We did a big remodel and knocked out the middle of our house. It’s still a ~1500 square foot ranch, but it feels so much nicer now that it’s opened up. We had to be out of the house for five months, then a few weeks after we moved back we had a flood (long story) and had to move out three more times (not for as long, thankfully) so part of the new wood floor and some drywall could be ripped out and replaced. There are still more things we’d like to do, like replace the bedroom closet doors that broke and were ripped out in I think 2003, but all the remaining projects are much smaller than the giant remodel.
We hadn’t taken a real vacation for a very long time, so in 2022 we went to the Big Island. This was, sadly, where we were when we lost Jasper, but if you’re going to be sad and miserable there are worse places to be. When we came home the house felt empty and sad, so we booked a trip to Kauai and went there a few months later. The following fall we went to Oahu, and this past January we went to Maui. It’s become a joke—family and friends will ask if we’re ever going to go anywhere except Hawaii. 🙂 But hey, at least we know what we like!
And amazingly, we did go somewhere besides Hawaii! In mid-September we took Rosie and Oscar to Aspen for a week. We rented a condo a few blocks from the gondola, went hiking every day, and one day even took the bus out to the Maroon Bells. The dogs did great on the bus—I thought they’d be nervous, but they were totally fine. The aspen were turning, the weather was beautiful, and we found two dog-friendly restaurants—the Ajax Tavern, which even allows dogs inside, and the Hotel Jerome, which has a lovely outdoor patio.
There have been a lot of elderly parent issues for the past few years. In 2024 my dad, my mother-in-law, and my ex-mother-in-law all passed away. My mom is still around and is doing well. She lives in an independent living facility nearby with her two cats. Oscar has visited her a few times, although the last time he got smacked in the face by a cat. I don’t think the cat was angry at him, he was just there, and she’s a cat, so…why not? 🙂
Writing-wise, I’ve had three stories published in the last few months. “Dance Hall Days,” a ghost story set in an old hotel loosely based on the Anchor Inn I used to stay at when I went to Lincoln City, Oregon for writing classes, was published in the Haunted Places anthology. “The Gate,” which is about twins researching a mysterious portal that turns on when one of them accidentally bumps into it, is in the Magical Research Gone Wrong anthology. And Scylla and Charybdis meet for the first time in “To Be a Monster,” which was reprinted in Twist & Trope: Issue #2.
There are lots more stories on the way! I have a jam-packed schedule for the next year, and I’m looking forward to my many projects! It’s been a complicated couple of years, and it’s great to have more time and energy again. I’m working on a couple of short stories right now, and will get back to novels after I wrap those up. I’m publishing two anthologies on my own, and am working on two more with my friends DeAnna Knippling and Tami Veldura. It’s been fun to collaborate with DeAnna on the Amazing Monster Tales series (issue #5 will be out soon!), and when we came up with the idea of a dragon-themed anthology series we decided to see if Tami was interested—and she was! I’m having a lot of fun working with them.
After working at a couple of AI companies, I decided to see if AI could create a publishing application I’ve wanted for years. That’s gone extremely well, and it’s been fun to learn how to work collaboratively with AI. Some of my software friend have been really interested in what I’m doing, so I’m going to start posting about what I’ve tried and learned on my blog and on LinkedIn.
My blog will continue, but I’m going to start posting more on Patreon and only occasionally post here (other than the AI posts which won’t be on Patreon). I’ve been following several authors I like on Patreon, and I really like the way the platform works. I’m also revamping my newsletter, and will start sending that out monthly.
And now…back to writing!