More Calves - We're Close to Half-done.
With all these calves, one has become a problem. Turned out to be a twin of another born the day before. About three days later, its resulted in our having a bottle-calf for the next several months...
Hi,
Thanks again for being here and opening this. For being part of this community.
(Note: this is probably too long for email, and so may cut off. In such case, there’s a link at it’s end to read all the verbosity online…)
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Farming News - New orphan calf is up at the home place with bulls and steers.
Writing News - Dissecting classics has started - and ebooks dropped behind the paywall.
Fiction News - 2nd chapter of a new serial, from Book One of Hooman Saga
Expectancy Factor - A new Nightingale essay
Farming News
We’re at nine calves now arrived. Here’s the third one. (I’ll showcase one a week - which means 20-some weeks of new calf pictures.)
Her momma is called Mary Contrary, because of her Jersey lineage. (She insists on having her head inside any bucket you are carrying…)
That heifer’s tail is white-tipped, but only one white stocking, as you can see. So get your namerator busy. Reply to this email with your suggestions. I’m compiling a list…
Bulls and steers are at the main house now. For at least the next month. Just hit the 20-day limit where its possible for the first cows to come back into heat again. That’s why they got taken out. Steers will get an appopintment for processing this next month. Also, Little Orphan Andy came down here. He’s much smaller than those two year old steers, but he’s keeping our little orphan twin heifer company. Her story is being born a day after her sister, and momma didn’t take her - plus, we didn’t have a concept that she was a twin, at least not at first.
But after three days of dealing with feeding her, and a couple of days with her real momma, we elected to just keep her on milk replacer and locate her close to the house. And her company then became Andy. He’ll start getting some feed mix daily as a reward for being big brother.
Tiny Home Progress
With all the new calves, and the necessary sleuthing of that young heifer’s mom, not much time was left for moving the tiny homestead along. As well, we got several inches of rain, which left the ground work for some other time. This next week should realize something.
At least we’ll get to the Amish to get an updated construction estimate with these new plans.
Writing News
[Still needing to get proofs for that pentalogy of books (my five Writerpreneur books). I keep this sentence here to remind myself.]
I started that Pro Writer newsletter last week, which is forcing me to review three of those books in that set.
You may have seen this - we’re using that Forgotten Bestseller Secrets book to now dissect Louis L’Amour’s short story, “Gift of Cochise”, which later became the movie Hondo - with its novelization. And was L’Amour’s big leap forward. Well worth a study.
And I found myself reviewing later parts of that book and also The Basic Formulas of Fiction to derive what students should be looking for.
Again, it’s as much my education as yours in this area. Repetitive review assists retention and application.
Newsletter News
I’ve kept dropping ebooks into the newsletters, behind the paywall. So when you upgrade to a paid subscription, then you can access them simply. Of course, I also keep them available through my library storefront, where its a one-time purchase, often “Pay What You Want”.
Tables of Content for the mini-courses and series are being developed. Soon these will show up on my Substack site on the heading links, as will my fiction books, which are getting that same treatment.
Earlier fiction stories published here are also getting their ebooks added behind the paywall.
Living Sensical
I haven’t brought this up as an overall subject in some time. Because I’ve been building and refining the individual components of this life-system well before I started up my Substack newsletter-work — something like three years or more as intensive work, on top of the half-century of broad research of narrowing down to this focus.
This is an interactive system — each element relates with the others.
In brief, the mnemonics are: Mind - Body - Value - Sharing.
Clear your mind.
Live naturally.
Perfect your skillset.
Share your help.
What this gives you is an always-on joyful peace of mind. A body which has few illnesses as you eat natural foods and get the exercise your body requires. You hone your talent and skills to be useful to others around you. And you enjoy the satisfaction of helping others as you corroborate with them.
My research found that Nature works all the time, while humankind has fits and starts of progress (in general.) Natural systems are built of interactive elements, the smallest system having four - it’s model is the tetrahedron.
Over these past few years, I’ve developed a smallish set of materials for each of these areas, and have tested them during that time. The material about resolving mental issues was the longest, but it was right up there with how to make an independent living, self-reliant and sustainable. Meanwhile, living on a working farm and adopting more organic eating habits (plus incorporating more physical work) has required me to study widely and aggregate materials in this area. My most recent work has been to confront and resolve Marketing and Sales, an area that is also filled with missteps and emotional baggage.
I’ve found that researching back to the classics - often as far back as the Greeks - finds evergreen principles as the foundation for extremely workable approaches. And these principles have been repeated over and over by the various authors through the ages. Assembling and refining these has taken time and become my life-work:
Mind - The Expectancy Factor and it’s supportive library of works.
Body - Homesteading is the current focus, with a revision and updating of Kains’ Five Acres and Independence as my current project.
Value - The Writerpreneur Series, all about how anyone can write and publish professionally.
Sharing - Out of that series, Copywriting for Authors gives marketing breakthroughs. While the various current economic platforms - such as Substack, Gumroad, Draft2Digital, Kickstarter, and Kit - cooperate to help an author build community and help people improve their lives.
While I’ve been working hard to assemble these materials into a working order, one that’s easily assimilated, the hard work continues. And you’ve seen my shift over to short mini-courses as the current most effective idea-container to share all this data.
All so people could escape the various traps - witting and unwittingly set - and pursue a long life of peace, joy, simplicity, and abundance.
Look for more about this in upcoming newsletters. I’ll be asking more of you in order to help you in what you want to accomplish and experience.
Stay tuned. And - keep an open mind.
Also published this week (ICYMI):
Writerpreneur Lessons
[Writerpreneur] Keeping Readers Reading
![[Writerpreneur] Keeping Readers Reading](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0eFu!,w_1300,h_650,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa6627b70-74ed-40cd-b21f-62d2a4a350ff_1600x1068.png)
The first hurdle for authors - once you’ve got them reading - is to keep them reading through to the end. And readers want to be immersed in what you are telling them, not bored. The majority of the stuff out there gets boring sooner or later - and so become just more text to doomscroll past.
Fiction Posts
Hooman Saga Book One - Mind Timing Chapter 2
WHEN THE SHIMMERING stopped, we were back in what seemed the 20-teens. Standing outside a vacant lot in Los Angeles. About where the Club would be built some great time later. The polluted air stank of car exhaust, only matched by the tar-smell of the road next to us. We stood on cracked concrete sidewalk, ringed on both sides by dry grasses and gravel. Screaming sirens in the distance accented the noisy roar of traffic that passed us, with clumsy buses buffering blasts of air about us as we stood in the sultry heat. The sun was overhead, a dim light in that haze called sky. Everything had a yellowish cast as a result.
Expectancy Post
Self-Improvement: Two Keys to Enthusiasm — Earl Nightingale
Reading Bernard Levin’s excellent piece, “In Praise of Exuberance,” I became concerned anew, as he has, about the general disappearance of exuberance and enthusiasm in the modem world.
Pro Writing Lessons
[Pro Writer] Hondo by Louis L'Amour - Dissection, Part 2
![[Pro Writer] Hondo by Louis L'Amour - Dissection, Part 2](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IIEb!,w_1300,h_650,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7844bf2e-2db3-479d-86a3-11705f7f16f1_1600x1100.jpeg)
OUR WORK SO FAR: Louis L’Amour got his real start in submitting short stories to the pulp magazines in 1938. This was coincident with his attending classes at Oklahoma University, taught by Walter S. Campbell. That course have an extra letter grade to any story purchased and published. And students were expected to write a 5,000 word story every week, which was then reviewed by Foster Harris, a veteran writer and editor.
Thanks for being there, opening this.
Sharing is caring. You’re who I do this all for. I value your input.
Leave a comment if something strikes your fancy.
I hope your life is not too interesting to be overwhelming, but sufficiently engaging to keep you amused. (Like some of us here...)
Robert
PS. Again, you can always email me about anything.
PPS. And you can always buy me a coffee…
Bonus:
Here’s the nearly-final version of a book-in-progress the beta Expectancy Factor.
2 1/2 decades of research compiled into one massive book and a supplement.
Currently available as ebook (epub and pdf).
Audio lessons available soon.
As it’s updated, you’ll be able to download the most recent version, as well as the course lessons for no extra cost. (I have to set it at a $1 minimum so Gumroad will host the audio files. As usual, it’s pay what you want, so you can come back to contribute more at any time.)
And a bonus supplement: the Magic of Believing Field Guide (isn’t pictured - yet.)
My dad loved Louis L'Amour books. He read them like candy, consecutively & fast! I need to pick one up. Would you say pick up this one? I'd love a rec.
Also live your calf photos. Animals have a special place in my heart. My dad worked a farm in his youth, & I missed out. So I'm curious & enjoying your news.
Hi Robert,
I just wanted to say how much I enjoy these updates — the calf stories always make my day. The little orphan twin tugged at my heart, but it sounds like she’s in good company with Andy. It’s clear how much care and effort goes into everything you’re doing, and I really admire that.
Your thoughts on food and living naturally have definitely got me thinking more about what I eat and how I live — little changes, but meaningful ones.
Also, I’ve been having a bit of fun naming calves. (with the help of AI) One of my favorites so far is Tootsie Mootsie. I had AI write a little tale about her. Thought you might enjoy it, so I’ve included it below!
"Tootsie Mootsie and the Stocking of Luck"
On a bright spring morning in a field full of dew,
A calf named Tootsie Mootsie awoke with a moo.
With one white stocking on her front right leg,
She danced through the clover, a skip and a peg.
"You're special," said Momma, Mary Contrary,
As Tootsie twirled past a sleepy old dairy.
"That stocking you wear — like a knight's shiny boot,
Might just bring magic from your tail to your snoot!"
Tootsie blinked twice. Could it really be true?
Did her stocking bring charm, like the fairytales do?
She trotted to Buttercup, wise and serene,
Who grazed near the brook where the water ran clean.
"It’s not just a sock," Buttercup said,
"It’s a sign of a heart that’s brave, bright, and red.
Now go find the blossom that blooms only at night —
The Clover of Courage, glowing moonlight-white."
Through meadows and thickets, through twilight’s soft hush,
Tootsie trotted onward in a determined rush.
And just as the stars blinked awake in the sky,
She found it — the clover, with petals held high.
She gave it a sniff, and then gave it a nibble,
And suddenly heard a curious dribble:
The clouds gave a giggle, the moon gave a wink,
And the pond near her hooves shimmered silver-pink.
From that day on, it was widely agreed:
Tootsie Mootsie had a heart full of speed,
Of kindness and courage, of giggles and grace —
A little calf hero with a sock and a face
That every young heifer would look up to see —
A legend in clover, as grand as can be.
Thanks again for sharing your world — it’s always a bright spot in my inbox.