Joplin Journal Volume 10-6, Issue 3

From the Editor's Desk:

Well, after two weeks of NOT writing or sending one of these Journals, I decided it was time I returned to the printing press. Figuratively speaking anyway. I had plans to write last Saturday, but we had a lovely break in the heat and I spent most of the morning working in the yard. But now it's hot again. And by hot I mean 100º or hotter, plus the heat index and humidity. Though I'm still wondering were we are getting the humidity since it's so dry around here. But I'll save that for some other time and place. Let's get on with more interesting topics, shall we?

Weather Report:

Heat. Summer. Temperatures rising to 100º+ almost every day. Nights in the 70s and humid. We have had a few mornings just this week were it was actually cool enough to walk before breakfast. And we did get a tiny bit of rain this week. It wasn't heavy enough to get past the leaves of the trees, so anything sheltered under a tree didn't get wet. It's been so hot and dry here that we've had to water every day, and we even watered our lilac since the leaves were starting to curl. There's a slight chance we might get some rain this weekend, but I'm not holding my breath. And next week there's a day that is supposed to be 107º and that's not counting the heat index! Ugh! I'm starting to dream of fall now. ;)

"Genius Burns":

Let's see. I don't know as I'd say any genius was burning right now. I'm kind of working on this and that and the other thing because I finished Don Wood. Just waiting for my synopsis to be written. And I re-read Lawrence & Lenexa and found the problem that story was having. I fixed that and wrote what I think and hope is the ending. I've also written more of Monday's Mystery (working title), and on Kate & Kylie (working title), and I'm hoping to work on more of Kelsey soon. I also have a Christmas Play to write. I wrote something, but it needed help, so I talked to a writing friend who writes a lot of scripts and such, and we brainstormed ideas for the characters and setting I already had. Now I just need to write it.

Project Prognosis:

Let's see how my projects are coming this week.

• Work on Blog Posts – Oh, I really need to do this because I don't have ANY posts done and ready! Yikes!
• Finish Don Wood – Yes! I have the interior formatted and the cover is almost done!
• KDWC – More on that below
• Work on my Name List – I did read two of my short stories and wrote the names down from those.
• Figure out Books for December Posts – Yes, I actually picked the books for this year's 24-Books-before-Christmas posts. I can't believe this is the 6th year of doing it and I have not repeated one book! That's a LOT of Christmas stories!

Visitors:

Yesterday Grandpa and Aunt Marty came down to visit us for the day. We enjoyed our time with them. We talked and went out to eat, and talked more, and worked a puzzle. We didn't do anything big, but that was okay, just talking and spending time with them was good.

Babysitting:

Two weeks ago the kids came over. All except James and Krista who were at camp. We played and after supper I took Kinsley and Grant and Kailyn on a walk "to see midnights and puppies" according to Kins. We saw some. Then Kins wanted to go again, and Joel joined us instead of the other two. This time we found kittens and cats and more kittens and cats! Kinsley was so excited. Joel tried to catch them but he only got one. When we got home Lucas, Drew, Kailyn, Grant, and Kinsley all wanted to go see the kittens. If I had had a cage to put them in, and if it was just Drew, we probably could have caught all the cats (they are almost all strays anyway). Drew has a way with animals.

4th of July Picnic:

On the 2nd we had a church picnic out at the home of one of the families from church. It was warm, but we had a cloud cover and a very nice breeze most of the time so it wasn't too bad. There were a lot of water rockets in the late afternoon. Some of the teen boys discovered the stilts we had brought and, after I gave them some pointers, they started getting the hang of them. And of course all the younger kids wanted to do them too. :)

After supper there was a baseball game for 13 and under. Then there was a game for over 13. I decided to join it. It was quite fun! I even got hits both times I was at bat! I never made it past 1st, but that was because the others got out, not me. ;)

From Camp:

Krista stayed an extra two weeks at camp to help in the kitchen some more as they needed her. But she's coming home today! Kinsley will be glad to see her. When I'd ask Kins where Sissy was, she'd give a little sigh and say, "At camp" in a dismal voice. She also told several people that Sissy was coming home soon, or she's say, "Mommy and me going to get Sissy at camp tomorrow." I think that little girl is more than ready for big sis to come home again!

The Music Stand:

Practice is over. We played on the 3rd and it was so much fun! You can listen to our two songs HERE. (We play first and then right after announcements.)

KDWC:

Camp has been going really well this time. I would have had a crazy big tent, but I put some girls in their 2nd choice tents so we'd balance out a little more. We have 8 tents and 10-14 girls in each one. I have a great group of girls. Three are new campers, and two are ones who have been in camp before but not in my tent. We've had lots of talk and several pillow fights (virtual of course), eaten lots of virtual food, done a lot of writing sprints and encouraged each other and some have written a lot of words already!

Sewing Room:

Sarah is still busy with sewing. Nothing seems to have slacked off in orders yet.

Read Another Page:

Don Wood will hopefully be coming out next month!

Maybe Lawrence & Lenexa will actually get published soon too!

I really, really want to share a new project that is being announced next week, but you'll have to wait. You can go to my Read Another Page website on Tuesday and read my blog post about it if you want.

Teacher's Lounge:

Closed until further notice.

Book Nook:

Since it's been two, no, three weeks since you last got to see my shelf of books I've read, it's going to be a bit more full this time but not really full as I haven't done a whole lot of reading. Emily's Runaway Imagination (fun, but not a keeper), Across the Land I Love (such fun!), Save the Date (I only liked a few in this collection and some I didn't even finish reading), Carl Hammond’s Lesson (short but good), Penny Plain (rather fun and old), The Bamboo Sword (interesting and fun to read), Today Never Happened (love this author), and then I read two of my own pocket books Keeping Up Hope, and Grandfather's Mug. And that's the end of my shelf. I have a lot of other books to read, but I'm also trying to write.

Farewell:

Sometimes I reach this point in the Joplin Journal and wonder if there was something else I was going to share. Sometimes I think of something and rush back to add another section, and other times I don't think of anything else. And then of course there are other times when I don't even try to think of something else to add. I think today might be one of those days.

Sarah is sewing, Mom might be doing dishes or laundry, and Dad is working on getting the trim up in the hall! Wow! Trim is the hall is exciting! I might need to go help, so goodbye! Maybe I'll write next Saturday.