June 1 (Monday) 6:45 am
The store is open. My new book Critter Chronicles may be bought online at CreateSpace.com or at this
address: www.createspace.com/3380930.
I discovered a misspelling in the book but have corrected it. It was a major flaw -- I misspelled Wenasoga,
having spelled it as "Winesoga." That may not matter to most people, but around the Alcorn County area it
is a big deal. So it had to be corrected.
| June 2009 Daniel Taylor |
June 3 (Wednesday) 6:45 am
I have shipped off several books so far, and have had at least three online sales. For sure, these are sales
to people who know me either personally or from online chat forums. I spoke on the phone yesterday with
Lenoir Stanley the president of the board of the Corinth Alcorn County Humane Society. We hope to put on
a fund-raising event in the fall. We shall have a reading/signing for my book and raise some much needed
money and supplies for the animal shelter. We both agree that fall would be better than summer. Waiting
until fall gives us time to get organized, sell some books, and waiting until then allows time for people tom
get their summer vacations out of the way.
June 5 (Friday) 6:45 am
In attempting to mow my yard last weekend I managed to dislodge one of the tires from my mower; so now I
have grass and weeds about two feet high. I have the injured tire in my car and hopefully can get it
repaired this afternoon after returning from work.
In the meantime the dogs have been having a regular field day in the tall grass. They are a sweet bunch,
but they are loud, dirty, and a general nuisance. I guess I wouldn't have it any other way.
I received some pictures from a friend who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. She sent me some pictures of a
friend of hers and included a couple of pictures of her friend's furry friends. Here is a picture of Macy(l)
and Bonzo(r). I really like this pic:
| Macy on the left; Bonzo on the right. Dogs sure are special, aren't they? |
June 10 (Wednesday) 6:45 am
Is it Wednesday already? I had to delay my arrival to work on yesterday. Bonnie had a very nasty sore on
her neck, so I took her to the vet. She required quite a few stitches, and it is a puzzle as to what happened.
I thought that she had a burst cyst, but the vet thought it looked like a tear of some sort. I don't know, but
we got her fixed up, and hopefully she will make a full recovery. Her spirits are high, and she doesn't
appear to be adversely affected by the whole thing.
Book sales are slow -- only a couple dozen so far, but I haven't done any advertising. The Daily Corinthian
will do a feature article next week maybe, so hopefully that will have an effect on book sales.
June 15 (Monday) 6:45 am
We are now entering a wonderful time of year to be a resident of Alcorn County. Soon the Farmers' Market
will be filled with home-grown tomatoes, okra, purple hulled peas, cucumbers. Ah! Springtime in the South!
The animals are all okay. Bonnie is coping well with those nasty stitches sticking out from underneath her
chin. We got pounded by thunderstorms over the weekend, so the dogs stayed thoroughly wet (those that
went outside); and Clyde, who is scared of funders, had a pretty rough time.
I did an interview with one of the writers for the Daily Corinthian. The plan is to do a feature article in the
newspaper soon to promote the book. I need to sell a few more books in order to break even; but I
certainly would like to do better than just break even. It would be nice if we could sell a few books and
raise some money for the animal shelter.
I was contacted by the webmaster of another rescue site. She posted one of my stories on her site and
posted a good review of my own site, so I shall include a link to her site here and on the home page.
June 18 (Thursday) 6:50 am
The orange tabby is getting closer. I spotted him first about four years ago. He lives at Willow Oak, albeit
he is not one of my regular cats. He was already here when I moved in, and I first saw him that summer of
2005, when my dogs spotted him in the woods and chased him to a large oak tree.
Through the years I would occasionally see him around and about, and I would see him eating the other
cats' food. Not long ago I got a picture of him and posted it in my journal. Yesterday I got closer to him than
I've ever been before. He was near where the outdoor cats eat. I spoke to him first and he answered. The
cat and I carried on a conversation for some minutes while he slowly crept closer. Eventually he was eating
and crouched down within 10 feet of where I was. I did not bother him further; I did not want to startle him,
so I left him alone. Perhaps -- hopefully it won't be long now until I shall be able to catch him. I'm sure he
could use a vet visit.
| This is the picture I took back in January. It was such a thrill to get so close to him yesterday. And he and I carried on quite the conversation. What a cat! |
June 19 (Friday) 12:50 pm
We reach the summer solstice on Sunday -- the one day of the year in the northern hemisphere with the
maximum amount of sunlight. I spent the summer solstice of 1993 in Fairbanks, Alaska. As a matter of fact, I
spent the entire week leading up to the summer solstice in Fairbanks, that summer. I experienced total
daylight 24 hours per day for eight days. It never once got dark outside. I recall how little I slept. The
atmosphere was very invigorating. But I did do some sleeping for a few days when I returned home that
summer.
The grass at Willow Oak is out of control, so I have to find the time to get it mowed this weekend. The days
are hot and humid already. Was it only yesterday that I let the dogs out the front door and watched them
run around in the snow?
June 22 (Monday) 2:35 pm
I did not get any yard work done this past weekend. The grass and the weeds are out of control. The dogs,
cats, and I stayed out of the heat, which was oppressive.
Larry, who is the subject of one of the stories in my book, and his family held a birthday party for one of
Larry's children. I was invited to attend and did so on Saturday afternoon, which is part of my excuse for not
doing the yard work. Besides the usual cake and ice cream there was a feast of fried fish, including catfish,
crappie, and bream, hush puppies, and fries.
Book sales so far have not been brisk. I am not really too concerned about that, though. It is summer, and I
presume that book sales normally slow during the summer anyway. But since I never expected to become
an overnight sensation I am not greatly disappointed at the lack of sales. I have sold and collected money
on a few books. The bookstores have sold a handful, and I have sold a few on Amazon.com and
Createspace.com.
A correspondent for the Daily Journal (NE Mississippi newpaper) called me today to request an interview
for an article on the book to appear in that paper.
June 25 (Thursday) 6:50 am
Tuesday, June 23, was one year since I had the heart attack. I have been faithfully taking my medication, but
I do not get the physical exercise that I require. But, I feel good.
Yesterday, the Northeast Mississippi Journal since a photographer by Willow Oak to shoot some pictures
for an upcoming article regarding my book, which is to appear sometime next week. The book had not been
flying off the shelves, but perhaps with increased exposure sales will pick up. The dogs had a great time
yesterday -- they always do when strangers come around.
LSU won their sixth college baseball world series by beating Texas last night. Of course, having graduated
from LSU I am a Tiger. Growing up in South Louisiana will do that to you.
June 29 (Monday) 6:25 am
All-in-all, not a bad weekend. The temperature was sweltering, but I managed to get some yard work done.
Bonnie got her stitches out, and I got some much needed rest. My boss wore me out last week, but I am
refreshed and ready to get back in the saddle. I have a very rewarding job in that I do at work what I did as
a hobby for a number of years. It is hard work and requires much stamina, but my job mostly requires
patience, intelligence, and creativity. The truth is that most people cannot do what I do for a living. Imagine
that your job requires that you sit around all day solving math problems. Now imagine that these math
problems involve situations for which the answers are not in the back of the book; furthermore, there are
no sample problems in the book from which to learn how to solve the problems. Your task is to first figure
out a way to solve the problems, then you must get the right answers. In the end, your answers are either
right or they are wrong. You either pass or you fail. There are no bonus points; no extra credit; no mommy
writing a note to the teacher; no note from the doctor. I love it!
The animals are all doing fine. Otis and his wife Debbie visited me this past weekend. Otis is my former
boss. He bought three books and wanted them autographed. Otis and Debbie have a few dogs and cats
themselves, and when they come over my crew has to check them out. The dogs especially loved having
company, and although Otis rather tolerates the dogs, Debbie appeared to really enjoy herself. I got a kick
out of watching Grace get in their laps. And Willie was in their face, and the rest tried to get involved as
they could.
Well, time to get to work.
June 30 (Tuesday) 6:45 am
The climate has been pleasant the past couple of days. Yesterday especially was fine. I enjoyed watching
the dogs run around the yard after I arrived home. And a few of the cats took advantage of the time in the
yard also. The temperature was warm, but the humidity was very low -- a very pleasant evening.
I have been perusing the website of some friends of mine. If you have read any of my stories you have
perhaps read the story entitled To Much Drama for Me. Larry is the main subject of the story, and his wife
has a website and a blog site, and I want to share them with you. Below is an excerpt from a piece that
Melinda wrote:
"I know Larry doesn't read this blog, heck he hates that I have it. He is getting used to the idea though. But, I just
want to say that today, I want him to know that I love him. We are not perfect by any means. We have our
arguments, we are both stubborn, pigheaded and quick tempered, so sometimes they are knockdown drag-outs,
well not literally, but you know. We are known to snap at each other, we are known to raise our voices, but we
are also known to survive. We make it, we figure it out, we talk it out and we get over it. He has stood by me
when I thought I was alone. The simple things he does to make me happy are wonderful. I fuss about him a lot,
he does a lot of things that bug me and he usually has to hear about it. But he loves me, and he takes care of
me. I love him to. I am thankful. There are so many woman who are no where near as lucky as I. He works too
much, I complain about it, but how many woman deal with a man who refuses to work, I am lucky. He fishes and
hunts and it takes away from time I would like to have, but he is healthy enough to go and he brings back food.
There are so many woman who deal with men going out to party and spending money, mine brings home food for
our family as a result of his recreation. I am thankful to have him. I have always heard that true love is learning
to love someone despite their faults, not trying to change them. That is what I have accomplished, I love him
even when I can't stand him. I wouldn't want him to change for anything. When we got married, we didn't have
the slightest idea what we were doing. I wouldn't recommend it to very many people. But we did what we thought
was best. And honestly things would be much different now I know. Like worse, not better for sure."
Go here to read the whole thing (scroll down until you find the Monday, May 11 blog entitled I Love You!). It
is an amazing piece of work.