Not a Story You Can Plan - Another Calf and that Kickstarter...
Another new calf. While cows of both ours and our neighbor's pick the lousiest time to play "escape artist". And the herd instinct is some breeding, but some learning...
Hi,
Glad to have you open this once again (or even for a first time). Yes, life (and writing) goes along on this farm with trials, tribulations, joys, and marvels. And my daily/weekly writing continues as well. Glad to share this all with you .
Farming News - Now fifteen calves!. #14 is featured. The same weather cycle repeats - It quits raining, heat comes, then storms, then cool. Rinse/repeat.
Writing News - More research into classics, which leads to who taught what when. All to to improve even a newsletter.
Expectancy - Releasing again is a core habit to master. Along with affirmation.
Fiction - That research above plays into new fiction - while a standalone serial-series continues this week.
Farming News
Here’s Calf Number 14. Almost caught up, while two remain…
This is “Betsy” as in Ross - because she was born on the 4th of July - same day the creek got “out”. Momma’s name is Skully, her first. Again, an Angus-Hereford composite as a black-white-face is bred to a Hereford and she drops a red=white-face.
I did some math this week, since the latest calf (two day ago) is a bull calf, tagged “7”, out of 15 calves gives us 8 heifers. So it will be close.
We’ve still got two cows left to drop their calves.
A spot shower drop about 3/4’s of an inch on us, but I won’t get back out there until this newsletter is out. I can always hope.
Escape Artists
Let’s see - they’ve made it frequent. And it’s always a mystery. The secret is to have the criminals show you how they did it.
I was getting ready to sort out my bulls to get them in for semen testing (they came out find, by the way). And my cows were missing. I’d gotten up there an hour early to get them in and sorted. But first, I had to get them back in where they were supposed to be.
The trick is to listen and look for odd things. Like cows being on the far side of the fence. They were in my neighbor’s corn. (Yikes.) So I figured I’d bring them up along the outside of that fence and then get them through the front gate and shut them in again - logic saying that they’d probably escaped through the polywire fencing, which is easier to walk through.
I’d forgotten my sister had taken out a section of fence when she renovated her pond. The cows loved the idea of talk weeds to munch on and a huge pool of water to quench their thirst (another hot day of walking for me.)
This then meant turning off and taking down her electric fence so they could get back in. Of course, a handful decided to simply go through that fence in another spot, so I had to finish getting them all in (I’d laid out some feed in troughs inside the barn) and shut the vast majority inside there, then go back and fix her new fence where they’d broken it - because it had to keep them in when I finally got those bulls out and to the vet.
Yet, that was the last straw as I now was officially late. Thankfully, smart phones helped me get a new appointment. Bulls were now sorted, though.
I parked the truck and trailer so I could simply load them for a late-afternoon appointment.
— - - -
And then, when I loaded those two in and was pulling away, I noticed my neighbor’s cows were out and into another neighbor’s soybeans. Again, that handy smartphone let me call my Mother to tell her where the phone number was (that I’d written down) so she could call the first neighbor and tell him - since I couldn’t stop.
On the way back from the Vet, I got a call from my sister, who had arrived back to her home (by the pond above) and had to wait for cows to get out of her way. So she got the phone number from my mother, which turned out to be the neighbor’s stepson in a town about 40 minutes away. He then called his dad and got onto the road to help him with his herd. But my sister told me that two of my young calves (as that neighbor told her) were in with his herd. So I told her to text me his phone number as I was in the middle of hauling the two bulls back to the farm.
When I got to the farm, I noticed an absence of cows. So I took a little more feed and persuaded the bulls to get back into the barn once again until I could find those missing cows. Then I took off with the trailer and picked up the two calves. And let them out into that barnyard, where they promptly started calling for their momma’s and dinner.
Their bawling helped. This time, I found them just outside the break I hadn’t found. I was in the corner of the barbed-wire fence I thought was intact. So I called them, they came in. Then I heard some more, so called again, and most of the herd came in through that same hole. Once more after that, and then also going out to chase some reluctant yearlings finally got them all in.
Only then did I patch that hole, after doing a rough head-count to make sure I at least had all the calves accounted for.
And I went home with the trailer, then parked and unhooked it. (And got both a shower and a tall drink of fluids.)
The rest of that polywire fence waited until the next day. It was fine, so the cows got to go back out there once again.
Yes, the neighbor said he found and patched his own fence.
It seemed they were out at the same time as mine, and those two little darlings went out to make some new friends.
Wild Fruit
I have to get back out after more elderberries. My stepdaughter wants some, so she can make some flu remedy from it’s syrup.
Mother’s experiment with green apple jelly turned out well:
I told her they were still dropping, and I could get her some more - but she told me “No, thanks.” This was enough for her. Still, it’s good to know.
Tiny Home News
We’re getting closer to getting our 8+/- acres. Financing that is next. along with getting that paid off - while we also have to pay to get the water installed, trenched up to the site, a foundation poured, a building bought, the electrical installed, plus the fiber-optic Internet.
What we may do is to get a large shed on that foundation, enough to hook everything up to, and then pull the cottage up near it to hook into all that. The shed we’ll then build a nice farm kitchen in, plus a decent bathroom and washer/dryer setup. So that’s plumbing, electrical, wi-fi, everything. If you look up shed-to-home, you’ll see some fascinating ideas there. They can haul a structure and place it anywhere you want. Then you finish it off - or pay them to do it in advance (for $$$ upfront). Biggest we’ve seen is 16x60, which is the same as a small 2BR/1BA mobile home.
Life goes on.
Writing News
Overall, I’m pushing the deadline for the Kickstarter back. Because I have a lot of work to get done in the preps end at it’s start. Have to promote this to you all and also via Substack Notes. And the farm has taken a lot of time this week (as you may infer from the long story above.
I started digging into the Professional Writing Course at the University of Oklahoma again. It turns out to have five more author-teachers of interest. So I have several more books coming my way. And that broadens out or condenses my approach to what was two more volumes in the WriterpreneurOS series.
Running long - we’ll have to leave this as a note. But if you’re on Substack Notes, I’ll probably start talking about this there - in the coming week.
WriterpreneurOS
The 5th chapter of the Cashflow Code arrived. Follow this serial…
This serial is an investigative mystery - of how to do book marketing and why it’s so hard and costly. But it winds up in 10 installments. (That tenth is a supplement.)
Fiction
And the fiction serial is half-way through - The Saga of Erotika Jones continues:
This serial-series runs for 8 episodes. Pretty much, it is a standalone series. We have some involvement from some earlier characters, but it ends up with a surprise location. And was supposed to move onto a new scenario - but that never got written - yet.
I like the overall story arc. Most of those locations I’d been to in my earlier days, so a little research on Google Maps and the Internet brought me up to speed. It’s based in the late 70’s, mostly - without the theme songs us boomers grew up with.
And I still like reading them. Nice, short, and no politics. Cozy mysteries. Suitable for reading to grandkids - if you don’t mind interruptions as you explain things.
Kickstarter Previews Arrive
Not much done on this for this week. I’m finally happy with the campaign’s “story” - even though it’s wildly different from most of what’s posted out there.
Please visit the preview and use their comment area to tell me what needs to improve - or just give me (needed) attaboys.
Kickstarter display page here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1481356435/1548894263?ref=a5wy7u&token=315549e4 (Feel free to share that preview…)
Sign up to be notified when it goes live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robertworstell/writerpreneur-cracking-the-cashflow-code-non-fiction-book (Sign up now. Share that link with anyone you know who it could help.
PS. I discovered late pledges have been implemented by Kickstarter - so mine will have these for all who missed the initial roll-out. Lots of great stuff.
A Special Offer Returns
For a short time, the beta-readers version of Cracking the Cashflow Code is now available. It will be available at this link until I start the Kickstarter release, you can download the new and improved edition (especially if you already have it from earlier.)
That link is also Pay What You Want - a nice way to donate.
Here’s the link: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/CashflowCode
AN ASK: if you’ve downloaded it, please give some feedback. Leave it in the comments, send me an email. Something, anything. Like it, could be better.
NOTE: This will be a bonus for the Kickstarter. Publishing decisions will be in the next few weeks.
Expectancy - Releasing, again.
You set your goals and release any issues that come up. Those counter-emotions and such. Once you get this as a habit - and expect to live your life with a near-constant peace-that-passes-understanding, the world and its worries smooth out after awhile.
Look up Lester Levenson and get that releasing material down. Meanwhile, Napoleon Hill still has the best approach to goal setting and achievement.
We’re running long today, so I’ll have to leave you with those cryptic notes. You can visit https://store.livingsensical.com and get ebooks and some courses in this area, as usual.
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. Again, do upgrade to the paid newsletter version. That helps me keep the lights on - so I can keep all this coming to you. As much or little as you want…
(Meanwhile, I’ve put my archived newsletters and articles all available as free on Substack, instead of behind a paywall.)
AND you can always buy me a coffee…
Here’s that new beta-reader advanced copy: