Marching to the Garden and #Eclipse2024 by @JacquieRogers

 Can You Believe It's March??? 

(Because February Was One Big Blank!)

by Jacquie Rogers

Disclaimer:  I can't preview this post so please excuse the inevitable typos.  

In my last blog post, I mentioned that we'd been without internet for four days.  Well, now we've been without service for a month and four days.  After many trials and tribulations (if I got into it, this post would be 10,000 words long) we finally got a T-Mobile 5G hotspot that we can use either in the house or when we're traveling, so cool.  But our high speed provider is still down.  Well, they did get the tower back up but the antennae didn't make it.  And then the property owner wouldn't let the internet company back on the site.  

So while the lawyers were haggling, we had no internet service--and no patience, either.  That's why we finally got the hotspot.  I do hope the company gets us back online soon, but at least I can order more seeds now.  Don't tell Mr. R.  You'll see why in a minute.

Okay, well you won't see because apparently this computer doesn't have good enough wifi signal to upload photos (that I just spent three hours editing).  Anyway, let's carry on.

Greenhouse lessons

• When you plant a little tray with 40 cells, a seed or two in each cell, it fits nicely on the shelf on the heating mat and under the grow light.  
• But then the seeds sprout and grow.  Super good germination rate, so two or three plants per cell.
• You're supposed to sacrifice the weak ones to the gods but oh no, I have to save them all.  
• I have a tiny little 6'x8' greenhouse.
• The little baby plants outgrow their cells.
• You guessed it--must pot them up.  Now, instead of 40 one-inch cells, you have 80 four-inch pots. (Remember, it's a 6'x8' greenhouse that only a munchkin can stand up in...)

Um, yeah.  So I have 48 basil plants, 36 beefsteak tomato plants (I need eight), at least 30 geraniums, close to 100 snapdragons, three shelves of petunias... and many, many more trays of seedlings.  Of course, there are many more things to plant--all the flowers for the pollinator garden and such.  Not sure where I'm going to put all these plants, but it's the first year I've ever used a greenhouse so I guess I went a little hog-wild.   

I blame the internet because since I was down, I couldn't do much else besides cook and plant seeds.  Oh, and read.  Lots of the SGRR authors have new books for us to read.  Caroline Clemmons has a new one out so check her author page on Amazon.  I can't get the exact title or link because I only have one bar of wi-fi right now.  Not sure why.  

Anyway, so it goes on Windy Hill Farm.

Tada!

For reading, I've been into biographies lately.  How about your New Year book choices?

Stay safe, and until next month, Happy Reading. 📚😍

Jacquie's Website | Amazon author page | BookBub

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest

If you're on TikTok, friend me!  My handle is @jacquierogersbooks.  

You can get videos of Honey Beaulieu and Sassy's latest updates there.  And goofy videos of her scribe.  Heck, we even do a few cooking videos.

Keep up with Jacquie Rogers' latest news at the

Pickle Barrel Gazette!
Honey Beaulieu - Man Hunter series
Hearts of Owyhee series

Life Without Internet (shudder) by @JacquieRogers

 Life Without Internet 

(Okay, 4 days, but still...)

by Jacquie Rogers

This blog post will not be fancy, that's for sure, but at least I could get it posted (I hope).  You see, we had a windstorm five days ago and it knocked over the tower that feeds us internet service.  Normally, our provider has solid service and if there's a glitch, we're back online within minutes--maybe an hour but no more than that.  But this time...five days, and it doesn't look like we're going to get service until Monday morning.

After four days, I finally figured out I could tether my computer to my phone and get internet using T-Mobile.  It's slower than snail poop but at least I could get online.  So here I am, typing away, definitely not taking the risk of posting the photos I took earlier in the month.  Or finishing the Valentine's Day video.  Or anything else.  It's text only, just like the days of PC Anywhere.  (I'm really showing my age there--I bet very few people even know what PC Anywhere is.)

I'm not saying that I'm utterly dependent on the internet but:

• I can't access any of my story notes because they're all on OneNote.  And by notes, I mean character development, conflict, plot, what I've already done and rejected, and anything else you can think of.
• Even if I could get to my notes, I can't access my file!  For some reason, our new fileserver isn't working, either, and it's not on the cloud.  What's with that???  
• No internet research, and there was snow on the ground until yesterday so heading to the local museum wasn't an option.
• Doodly doesn't work, which is how I send Valentine's greetings.  Oh well, there's still time.
• Sure can't upload YouTube of TikTok videos.
• No email, of course.  Mr R is having DTs over that little issue.
• Can't order online.  OMG, and lots of things I need for the greenhouse aren't in stock at local stores yet.
• I've had a bazillion questions that I'd like answered.  No Google.
• We get the local newspaper but the news is two days old.  That's just not how it's supposed to be in 2024.
• No YouTube cooking shows.  No looking up recipes, not even my own.
• Can't plan our trip to Texas in March, which we wanted to finalize so I can make reservations.
• Also, can't make reservations online.
• Can't buy books for my Kindle. (faint)  Luckily, I have hundreds of books already, but still...
• No Facebook, TikTok, X, Threads, Snapchat.  Wait, that's a plus.  I was amazed at what a timesuck social media is.  Ahem.

There's more, but you get the idea.  On the other hand, I planated a lot of seeds in the greenhouse and started cleaning the patio.  But not the garage--it's entirely too scary.

For reading, I've been into biographies lately.  How about your New Year book choices?

Stay safe, and until next month, Happy Reading. 📚😍

Jacquie's Website | Amazon author page | BookBub

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest

If you're on TikTok, friend me!  My handle is @jacquierogersbooks.  

You can get videos of Honey Beaulieu and Sassy's latest updates there.  And goofy videos of her scribe.  Heck, we even do a few cooking videos.

Keep up with Jacquie Rogers' latest news at the

Pickle Barrel Gazette!
Honey Beaulieu - Man Hunter series
Hearts of Owyhee series

HOW TO CONNECT

By Rain Trueax

Finding a way to communicate with readers is an ongoing issue for many writers. In 2013, I discovered videos of authors discussing their work. One particularly memorable one was by Mary Alice Monroe. It was lovely to watch her on the river as she discussed her book. 

Time is a River

Other videos were of writers sitting at their desks discussing inspiration for their latest book. I liked both types but it was the latter that made me think-- hey, I could do that. All it needed was a webcam or cell phone, and willingness to give it a try. In 2013, I made my first.

Creating a blog, [Videos and Discussions], I kept its title loose because it was in my mind that maybe I could find others who would share their videos there and by others, I was thinking not only writers but painters, photographers, potters, sculptors. I've seen videos of painters showing their work coming together and it's exciting to view process. Well, the sharing with others didn't transpire, and then I forgot about doing them for a few years until early this September when I'd been watching RV folks talking of their lives. Hey, I could do that and did my first new one since 2015. 

When we have something we dearly love doing, the topic isn't hard to find. Where I still use my webcam, it'd be easy now to use a cell phone and I might switch to that in the future if I do some outdoors. 

I think of mine, not as a lecture but chatting with a friend. To that end, I do not write out a script or outline. To find what I want to say, I begin by talking into the webcam for about four minutes-- these are not keepers. I usually do a couple while I figure out what works.

Since my desk is in the living room, I want lighting right for the webcam, which is above my monitor. Turning off and on some lights, I aim for stronger lighting on one side of the room. Next, comes getting me ready. I put on makeup, the kind that I only use when heading to town. Neutral colored tops seem to work best for me. When I looked back over the videos I've made, I realized I own a lot of tan tops... If I play music, it has to be very soft, unless it's where I own the digital rights, as some regularly look for copyright infringements on YouTube-- and it can be an infringement if it's recognizable. 

Once I am doing them, the phone will ring or my husband walks into the room when he didn't know what I was doing. Eventually though (third try for the one below), I get one that works. Listening to it, there were a few 'ands and uhs' that I wish hadn't been there but not enough to redo it.  Doing it too many times would make it stale and lead me to be bored and showing it. Last step is sending it off to my YouTube channel. That's where I also have book trailers and nature videos that have come out of trips.

If you have done such videos, I'd love to add yours to Video and Discussion. For me it is part of connecting on a different level, making ourselves real to those who only know us online, and sharing our inspirations.