Musings and Short Rants

     Even though it’s my birthday month and Leos are supposed to revel and roar under the sign of the Sun, August is not my best time of year: lethargy sets in, the heat gets to me (especially the dry heat here in Northwest Arkansas), every day I seem to have a new wrinkle, rag weed is in the red zone. Well, you get the idea. I stay inside most of the time gazing out at my beautiful view of the White River, just above the Beaver Bridge, and think about October, my favorite month. Writer’s block lurks just around the corner. I try to follow my own advice and get up early and edit what I wrote the day before. Some days I struggle to write my goal of 500 words.

     I’m working on a new historical novel for young people. My original idea was to write for middle grade readers, but yesterday I substituted at a high school and read the first chapter to tenth grade students. They liked it and said they wanted to read more to find out what happens to the main character. I could tell they were engaged in the story. That felt good! I also discovered that by reading the chapter aloud several times I spotted some places where the writing could be improved, even though I’d gone over that chapter. That’s my tip on writing for this post. Make someone listen to you read your chapters aloud. If that’s not possible, maybe you could record it and play it back.

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     Nine years ago I moved into the house here in Arkansas and was fascinated by all the wildlife that crossed my property every day. If you look at a map you will see that we are part of that great agricultural region of the country that used to be called the Bread Basket of America. We’re also on one of the major migratory routes for wildlife, and I discovered a whole new world when I moved here. Summer brought thousands of butterflies: Monarchs, Black Swallow-tails, Skippers, Butter-Cup Yellows, and many others too numerous to name.

     Of course, some of the birds here were familiar; we have the same ones back home in Alabama, but there were others I could add to my Sight List. Yes, bird watchers have a list of birds they have spotted. My favorite is the Indigo Bunting. Once I saw a rare Painted Bunting near Butler Creek, but I saw Indigo Bunting all the time. They arrive a little later than some of the other migratory birds, but as soon as they got here I heard their high pitched cry before I actually saw them. Then they were everywhere; building nests, flying across the road in front of my car, flitting from tree to tree as I sat on my deck and admired the small creatures that stole my heart. They are a brilliant indigo blue—solid on the body, and smaller than the Blue Bird with his red breast.

    Last year I posted on Facebook that I had seen very few Monarch butterflies and expressed my concern. We are on their fly way to Mexico and although it is early in the season, I’m holding my breath. Actually, I haven’t seen many butterflies at all this year! I started keeping a nature journal and recording what I saw during certain time periods. This summer I have seen three Black Swallow-tails, no Skippers (zero), one black and orange butterfly at the Beaver Bridge a few days ago, but I couldn’t identify it. Not sure if it was a Monarch since it was pretty far away. But the most disturbing observation of this summer is the absence of the Indigo Bunting. I saw a few back in June, but have not seen any since then, and I haven’t heard their distinctive call. If you have seen the Indigo Bunting I would appreciate it if you would let me know. Between Carroll Electric and Monsanto Roundup being sprayed over our entire area, I’m afraid we may be at the tipping point with our wildlife. And what about us humans? We seem to hear about more and more cancer cases in our area, even among the young. By the way, I have a no spray order with Carroll Electric for my nine acres. They are not allowed to spray on my property, but they spray all around me. This year, some people who had no spray orders were sprayed by mistake. Several were the owners of organic farms. They lost their certification. That just added fuel to the fight with SWEPCO. Stay vigilante, friends!

     Now I know my dear friends in agriculture and ranching will take exception to what I’m writing. I’ve been called a liberal hippie (I don’t mind, but that’s not really accurate). I’m concerned about GMO’s and try to stay away from altered foods. But I admit I sometimes have a big burger; I’m not a fanatic. But here’s the real issue, folks! What are we doing to our world? How will we explain to future generations that we sat back thinking everything was going to be just fine. How did we let big corporations take over our country?  Please think about some of this and do some research. One thing I know, at least in my part of the world, things are changing rapidly.

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Next Rant: Short and to the Point

People all over the world must find a way to quit killing each other over religion and race. A first step would be to figure out how to put an end to generational poverty in our country. Tolerance and love in our own community would be a start. A realistic educational system that prepared young people for a meaningful career…I know this was supposed to be short. Maybe I will continue this rant in my next post.

Love to all!