Gwen Kruger

How Not to Move

9/11/2015

The move was interesting to say the least. Due to vacations of the working parties that left us with no way to get things done on time, and no recourse, we closed a week after we were supposed to. This meant that my grand-kids started school on the same day they became homeless for four days. OK, so hotel living is often a bit difficult to live with but the police raid in the parking lot in the middle of the night was a lot scary. then on Friday when they checked out of the hotel the U-Haul truck would not start. When we got it started with the help of the repairman that the company sent, we drove it to an empty parking lot where we babysat it along with three other cars, from noon until 5 when we finally got possession.

Ahhh. finally. we walked through the house to see what had been done, and found a few things that looked a bit suspicious. Upstairs in the attic bedroom were drug items and some stolen mail. Police were called. It seems tha house had been empty for three years and in that time, transients had used it periodically mostly from the outside. The nice officer that came told us that now that we were here, there would probably not be any more problems. While his evaluation of the problem was helpful, we were still a little on edge, especially the kids.

We worked until after dark to get the truck unloaded because it had to be returned by 9AM the next morning. Katy and Kyle had brought the cats up to Becca as they are an important part of her life. The children had their beds flopped down in their hastily cleaned rooms, as did their parents. However, we had to lay our bedding down on the dining room floor, just off the kitchen.The cats were let out of Becca's room to roam during the night, and roam they did. First off they tried to pester us, something I don't tolerate well. We got them to leave us alone and suspected that things would improve for the night. We were so tired we thought we could sleep through anything.

About 2:00 AM we found that we could not sleep through just anything. The cats had found that roaming was fun and, because the kitchen light is operated by a motion senser they turned on the light. Oh, GOOOOD morning. By the real human morning we felt like we had been up all night.

We went home to our house that night because we had the freezer full of food at our house and Heather's mom had a horse trailer with the fridge and the stove in it. The next day we drove to Mary's and were to follow her up to the new house. Guess what didn't start. The truck with the horse trailer. Now Ken and I can't move the stove, it's too heavy, or the awkward refrigerator either. The dead truck is attached to the trailer so we can't just pull the trailer with our truck. Soooo several hours later we finally got started, stopping in Rochester to pick up a brand new free dishwasher as well.

And that, my friends is how not to move.

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The Hardest Part

8/20/2015

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The hardest part of anything for me is waiting. I'm just not cut out to do that. I like the doing part. Always have still do. Well, I have been waiting for several things.

Right now the main thing we are waiting for is the appraisal addendum to The Basement House. Oh, the appraiser got there initially right on time. BUT she had some things she wants done before we can have the house. Now keep in mind that we are buying the house to fix up, so we already knew about these things.Not only that but we were planning to fix them ourselves after we did some upgrades. For instance there is a wall in the attic bedroom that is missing the drywall because there are new wires that had to be run. There are two vents behind that wall that need replaced, and we were going to add insulation to the area. When we move in we will have to undo the drywall they have put in and do those things.
We can't just do the work, and are at the mercy of whomever the bank finds as the lowest bidder (i.e. cheap). We weren't planning on occupying the space until the work was done anyway,but now we have to wait for them to do it, wait for the appraiser to reinspect it, and wait until it is all reviewed by the underwriters. .Waiting.

The other thing I am waiting for is more difficult. I have a couple of writing works out looking for an agent. I don't know how long it will take for them to be read by the agents I have sent them to. Agents and editors have one thing in common. They are both stressed for time and, in order to save time, they reply only to those writers that they might want to work with. the rest of us are at their mercy. Waiting. One work I sold had it for three months before they let me know they were interested.(Their web site said they would let me know in 4-6 weeks.) And so I send my babies out into the great cyber world,not knowing if I will ever hear what others thought about them. It's like playing in a football game and hearing the cheering weeks later, not at the time of the game. And so I wait. and wait, and wait for someone to discover my babies sitting there on the shelf waiting for a real life.

In the meantime, I'm writing the next Great American Novel with Ashley Martin, Architect, building a story one word at a time.And she's telling me to get busy on her story because Ashley doesn't like to wait either.

See you next time..

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New Adventures

8/3/2015

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Since I wrote in this blog I have been up to a lot of things. First, I didn't write here because I was experiencing some technical problems. Hopefully they are taken care of now and you can actually access what I am writing. However, I am still living and that means new adventures.

Ashley that I wrote about in March has found herself in real hot water and I'm not sure how she is going to get out of it yet. Some day she will get her act together. Until then I have one quote from her I especially like: "Unlike Victoria, I actually have secrets," she said.

That isn't the only thing I've been doing of course. My husband and I have begun a new project house, The Basement House or as we are beginning to call it The HERD House, is a charming, under cared for 1939 house on nearly a half acre.
It comes with it's own set of problems. There are no appliances, ancient smoke alarms, and I think most faucets in the house are leaking. Outdoors, the gutters have some downspouts, one of which ends just above the gas meter and the electrical service entrance to the house. We might want to fix that ASAP before the rains start if they ever do. The unattached garage has a section of 'natural' skylight in the roof as well as coming with a full compliment of homeless amenities that we must get rid of. (Hopefully there are no bodies in there.)

In addition we have been privileged to watch as Bambi and Thumper met.When they first saw each other, Bambi advanced, while Thumper sat still. When they got about 2 feet apart, Thumper ran. Bambi held still. Then Thumper crept back. Bambi stretched out his head to sniff and so did Thumper. They didn't actually touch, but close. And they did a little bit of back and forth dancing each in their own way.

See you back here soon.

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Cats

4/4/2015

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Cats, I have decided are beings that have no interest in the human race, and in fact refuse to accept that anything they choose to do is part of a race at all.

One time I visited a woman in Twin Falls Idaho on a bright sunny day in May. Invited to have a seat in her living room, I looked at the large wooden rocker and realized it would not be a good choice. The entire seat was taken up with a very fluffy orange cat that was curled into a wad in the sun. I chose the couch instead, not wanting to disturb anything so huge or hairy.

We talked a while and as the afternoon progressed, the sunbeam moved onto the floor and then outside somewhere. While we visited, the cat did not move even a muscle.

The afternoon was almost gone when the cat opened one eye just a slit, and then the other eye until his entire face seemed to scowl. He yawned, displaying a huge cavern with sharp pointy teeth standing at attention in a little semicircle and stretched, displaying his claws on the ends of his extended front legs. Then he slowly oozed his way off the chair like butter that has melted in the sunshine. It took a while for that much cat to actually leave the chair. I was astounded that he was almost the size of a golden retriever, although not nearly as bouncy. For a cat his size I doubted he could ever be animated at all. He slowly and deliberately ambled his way out of the room and down the hallway.

“Come,” said my hostess with a grin as she rose. “You have to see this.”

I stood up and followed as she led the way sedately down the hall. The cat didn’t seem to know or care that he had a following. He turned into a bedroom and climbed up a board the woman had propped from the side of the room to the cupboard atop the closet. He disappeared into the cupboard and we didn’t see him anymore.

“Does he do this often?” I asked.

“Oh yes. He’ll sleep there for hours before gracing us with his presence again. His life consists only of eating, which he relishes with gusto, washing his face, and then sleeping in one place or another.”

“You mean he punctuates his sleep with occasional minutes of wakefulness?” I asked.

“Exactly. He’s such a big pussy cat.” She said it with the fondness of a true cat lover.

It was on that occasion I decided that cats are princes and princesses that eat your food, sleep on your furniture and dictate how you will react.

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Cavorting Crew

3/24/2015

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Last night at dusk we saw something new. A doe and last year’s doe fawn were eating in our yard. The young one loves the deer resistant plants I have planted. This particular doe and doeling are quite easily deer in our area. The doe usually has claimed the property next door as hers, and usually has only distinguished from others. The doeling has some light streaks on her sides that sets her apart from other one fawn.

The two of them drifted to the top area of our yard, up near the driveway, but they both stood watching down where they had come. I wondered what they were looking at. As I looked, another deer appeared out of the woods and then another and then another. Now there were five deer in our yard, and they were watching each other. The new deer are the doe and her two fawns from last year. They have been grazing and tiptoeing around our house a lot lately.

The second doe and her two doelings advanced toward the original two. When they got about 10 feet from the two, the two stepped forward, and the two older does sniffed each other. Then the first doe put her hoof up and touched the second doe on the shoulder. That started a chain reaction. The two younger members of the second herd began leaping like young fawns, and chasing each other, cavorting every which way. The big doe also ran with them and they raced up and down the lawn and into and out of the woods multiple times.

The two original ones watched and nibbled on the red huckleberry plant near the driveway.

They raced off away from the house and we thought it was the end. An hour later, the three were back, still cavorting around. By this time it was almost dark and we couldn’t see where they went. I will remember this experience and it will find it into my writings somewhere sometime.

Until then, enjoy seeing everything you can. Remember, you are never too old to go cavorting around.

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The Trillium

3/17/2015

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Yesterday’s find of a trillium in bloom and a bunch of yellow violets reminded me of the woods that I love. When I was a child, our family used to go hiking in the William O Douglas Wilderness Area, before it was designated that. Much of it was well known to me, so much so that I could go cross country and pretty much get where I was going without a compass or a map, although I had those along.

My parents had a curiosity that I have acquired, wanting to know the name of each flower, tree and bird, and how they fit into the general scheme of things. I have been privileged to watch deer chew their cud, squirrels chase and eat, snakes drink from a droplet on a leaf, and frogs turn from tadpoles into frogs. Right now the Bald Eagles have hatched a young chick that is flying about with them. I hear them call to each other as they fly. In the woods the hummingbirds are busy fighting over the feeder, and the tiny warblers singing for the joy of singing.

I have written about them and the places they live in my book Crossing The Raging River, and am now watching as Ashley, a New York native sees it for the first time as she moves to Washington State to be near her brother Ben that you have met in Crossing the Raging River. I have not named this sequel yet, but it is sure to have an interesting title.

Ashley is becoming a real character as she experiences the forest and all of the scenery therein for the first time. It’s harder for her as she isn’t a forester. She’s a girly girl architect with a fierce independence and a habit of not telling the whole truth. That seems to get her into a few predicaments that it is hard to talk her way out of. Will she ever learn? I don’t know. Will she ever find the perfect groom out here in this wilderness? Maybe. When and how will Ben find out? That remains to be seen.

For now, enjoy Crossing the Raging River, available on Amazon, and know that Ashley Martin will make her appearance by fall.

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Writing topics

3/5/2015

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The War Against Moles and Voles

2/19/2015

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The weather this week has been really wonderful so Ken and I have been outside in it most days. Our ten year old greenhouse was getting a bit run-down. Well, it isn't any more. We had to replace most of the roof but found the panels at the local home improvement store. Of course they weren't the right size so we had to punt. Then there were the moles and voles that had invaded our growing area last summer. The moles dug up the dirt in huge tunnels, usually around the roots of plants. The voles then used those tunnels to eat their way to a healthy vegetarian diet... the one we had planned to supplement our meals with.

Death to moles and voles. Or something like that. We fixed the outside of the greenhouse, and the inside came next. My friend Carl S from Florida has been making round flower beds in his back yard, and has inspired my husband and I to outclass the little furry creatures. NO, we didn't kill them, just took their fun away. At the home improvement store we found some very fine wire mesh, probably meant for screen doors. It is sturdy and has such small holes that neither little furry creature can get through. We shoveled the dirt from the raised beds out and then turned the raised bed forms upside down and stapled that wire to the bottom of the frames. We lined the sides of the greenhouse with hardware cloth, turned the frames right side up, and refilled them. On the outside of the greenhouse, we dug up a trench and then put used cat litter in it before filling it slightly with sharp gravel. Now to back fill the rest of it with dirt and plant the mole and vole arch enemies, marigolds and daffodils. I have read that voles hate to dig where there is gravel, and neither rodent likes those two plants. Besides, they hate cats. Eat your hearts out Moles and Voles!

I do have to make a sign for the deer. They keep eating the flowers on the heather. The nursery says that heather is deer resistant, but they forgot to tell the deer. I guess the sign will have to read, Please don't eat the heather, it is deer resistant and could cause harm to our relationship.Then I'll have to teach them to read.

As to writing, I do that early in the morning most mornings. This week is still the rough draft of Ashley, Ben's little sister from New York. This week Ashley has discovered that it can be very lonely in an apartment where she has no friends. The job situation isn't what she had envisioned either.She had thought there would be space to work in the architecture office, and there was, under the piles and boxes of old records, in the back room with the filthy bathroom and who knows how many spiders. Was her old boyfriend right: she should not have tried to move completely across the United States? Was it a different planet? I wonder what she will tell me this week.

Until next week, you have a great week.

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What am I Up To?

2/14/2015

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I see it has been far too long since I posted. I spent last summer with my husband doing "research" at the beach. Sounds like fun, huh? Well this research was buying a rundown beach house and fixing it up and then flipping it. The house had really great bones, but needed a lot of work. There were few plumbing fixtures left and only the laundry sink that was at all cleanable. The only light in the place was a bare floodlight bulb wired with just wires to the ceiling in the laundry room, and well you get the picture.

If the house DIY people on TV could do it in just five weeks, we could certainly do it in say two months, right? Well seven months later we have discovered what those TV shows don't tell all. Nope, they underestimate the amount spent, and contractors are working like bees on flowers just outside of the reach of the cameras. We were two elderly people doing it alone. Hmmm. 6 months later we had the house done. Every day I took copious notes as to what we did and how long it took. Someday I'll publish that with appropriate comments. (No I will not use profanity or the one finger salute.)

Right now, however I'm engrossed in writing a story that has stood on the back burner since I wrote Crossing the Raging River. I am doing a sequel in which Ben's little sister moves to Oregon to be near he and Jane. She intended to come out west all married just as Ben and Jane are, but somehow she lost the groom. If she wants a large wedding with all the trimmings and a happy life ever after, she is going to have to get with the program and find herself a groom. Ben and Jane want to help, as does Ashley's new boss and The Regulars that eat at Mary's Place and come in daily to comment on the town's goings on and the local fishing. Oh my gosh! I wonder what kind of a groom Ashley will find.Stay tuned to see what may happen next. I promise to blog more often. If you have ideas you would like to see incorporated, leave me a note. I love new takes on old ideas.

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A Childlike View of the Functions of the Federal Government

7/24/2014

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A Childlike View of the Functions of the Federal Government

Presidentures – Old man in charge of everything. If he isn’t old when he starts this job, he will be when he finishes it, just from trying to get the people in the House of Cards and the Send Nate to get along and do things right. My mom gets gray hairs when my brother and I don’t get along. I think the Presidentures does too. That’s why he is so old.

Underwear Secretary –Doesn’t want to be seen. It’s embarrassing… but funny. His friend, the guy in a suit keeps promising to send him some more clothes, but so far that hasn’t happened.

Secretary of de Fence – Puts up fences around every country in the world. It costs a lot of money. He sends out Army Guys to do the real work.

Secretary of de Yard – Makes other countries mow their lawns.

Secretary of Schools –Tells people to make all kids alike by going to school. The dumb kids have to get smarter and the smart kids have to get dumber so they can all be the same.

Secretary of Farmers – Does the paperwork so that the farmers can go riding around in their tractors

Washington Lobbyist – The guy that stands in the entry to the hotel and waits for you to come. When you get there, he tries to tell you that you need a whole bunch of stuff you don’t.

House of Cards – Where a bunch of people in suits get together and argue. They stack the deck against anyone that isn’t rich. Sometimes they don’t pay any attention to what the other people are saying and sometimes they don’t even go to the House of Cards. They just want to sleep in or go play with the Lobbyist.

Send Nate – Not really a person, but lots of people that try to shoot arrows with notes on them at the House of Cards and try to knock it down. I think the notes tell the people in the House of Cards that no matter what they do the people shooting the arrows don’t like it. Sometimes they also shoot arrows at the Presidentures Palace but he dodges the bullet. That’s what Dad says. Maybe he means the arrows.

Super Court – A bunch of old guys in black dresses that tell everyone else to knock it off.

The Cupboard – Where the Presidentures keeps his old people things.

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Author

Gwen Kruger, author, writer, crazy person. I love writing, the outdoors, and my husband, although not necessarily in that order.

How Not to Move

The Hardest Part

New Adventures

Cats

Cavorting Crew

The Trillium

Writing topics

The War Against Moles and Voles

What am I Up To?

A Childlike View of the Functions of the Federal Government

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