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Wednesday, Sep. 11, 2024

10:15am EDT

Members: 882

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Total Online: 2,612

PORCH PONDERINGS

by QueenNormaJean CheerleaderSoon

Rated: 13+ · Book · Biographical · #2198921

Norma's Wanderings around a small section of Montana

Well, hey there!
Welcome to Roundup, Montana! If it's a nice day, we'll sit a spell on my porch and talk awhile.

"All the resources we need are in the mind.” Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th President of the United States of America.

I am the Captain of my ship.
God is my co-pilot.
Often I sail stormy seas,
Am flung onto rocky shores.

What's on your mind today?

Signature for use by anyone nominated for a Quill Award in 2020

Signature for nominees of the 2019 Quill Awards

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Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

QueenNormaJean CheerleaderSoon

Sep 7, 2024 at 5:16pm
In response to "Fun Fact"

Who knew??? I love history.

Simply Me

Sep 7, 2024 at 5:09pm
In response to "Fun Fact"

How funny. lol

1 Like

Twilight Sparkle

Sep 4, 2024 at 3:13pm
In response to "NaNoWriMo"

It certainly will.

QueenNormaJean CheerleaderSoon

Sep 4, 2024 at 2:34pm
In response to "NaNoWriMo"

Twilight Sparkle

I appreciate your comments and no, you're not butting in. All your points are valid. NaNoWriMo went through a scandal a few years ago, or was it last year? about their moderators. And now this.

Last I knew, we were still a country that allows free speech. Unlike some others in the world.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Other people can like it, or not. But you are entitled to it.

It will be interesting to see what becomes of all this AI stuff.

2 Like

SandraLynn Team Florent!

Sep 4, 2024 at 12:08pm
In response to "Fun Fact"

I love this!! Horses'asses have certainly butted their way into importance. Now I shall forever have that image in my mind when I rattle over railway tracks. Thanks for the laugh!

2 Like

Twilight Sparkle

Sep 4, 2024 at 11:13am
In response to "NaNoWriMo"

If you don't mind me butting in. Their reasoning ignores key important facts. 1) you don't have to pay to belong to some writing groups. 2) even getting a friend or teacher to review their work can provide helpful feedback. Just ask my college roommate and friend who writes. 3) WDC exists and you can set up an account for free!

I just have to smh at what NaNo put out there. Even if their sponsor is an AI company, in my opinion, this is one "woke" bridge too far. Sorry, I don't usually get political but with the way their statement reads, I am highly tempted to boycott the official NaNoWriMo website. Oh and I'm sorry if my comment offends anyone who likes AI.

2 Like

QueenNormaJean CheerleaderSoon

Sep 1, 2024 at 10:59am
In response to "Perfect Last of Summer Day"

Exactly. Thanks for the comment.
NJ

Kåre Enga in Montana

Aug 31, 2024 at 9:39pm
In response to "Perfect Last of Summer Day"

K.I.S.S.

as in

"Keep It Short & Simple...

or Kiss My Ass."

*sigh*

Kåre Enga in Montana

Aug 25, 2024 at 11:24pm
In response to "Earth & Wind & Fire"

Cooler two days here. Tonight in the 40s... that's heading your way. We had a mini-storm in Missoula but Hamilton and Seely Lake were hit hard.

We had a very pleasant day.

City people don't always know that grass and hay are major crops.

Kåre Enga in Montana

Aug 22, 2024 at 1:48am
In response to "Such Drama"

Love volunteers. My portulaca bloomed ... a pretty shade of yellow-gold. I had 'rescued' some last fall? or the fall before. One stray seed waited for my return.

The days are noticeably shorter and can't hold onto the heat. Nights around 50° now. Today was lovely.

September 4, 2024 at 12:02pm

#1076241

Fun Fact

I just had this pop up on my Facebook feed. Too good not to share.

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used. So, why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And what about the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's a*s came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' as*es.) Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's a*s. And you thought being a horse's a*s wasn't important? Ancient horse's as*es control almost everything.
Read More: https://diaryamazing.com

2 Like • Comment • View 3 comments

September 4, 2024 at 10:41am

#1076237

NaNoWriMo

So it seems NaNoWriMo is under the gun for this whole Artificial Intelligence hoopla.

Their statements are especially bothersome to many:

1.Classism. Not all writers have the financial ability to hire humans to help at certain phases of their writing. For some writers, the decision to use AI is a practical, not an ideological, one. The financial ability to engage a human for feedback and review assumes a level of privilege that not all community members possess.

2.Ableism. Not all brains have same abilities and not all writers function at the same level of education or proficiency in the language in which they are writing. Some brains and ability levels require outside help or accommodations to achieve certain goals. The notion that all writers “should“ be able to perform certain functions independently or is a position that we disagree with wholeheartedly. There is a wealth of reasons why individuals can't "see" the issues in their writing without help.

3.General Access Issues. All of these considerations exist within a larger system in which writers don't always have equal access to resources along the chain. For example, underrepresented minorities are less likely to be offered traditional publishing contracts, which places some, by default, into the indie author space, which inequitably creates upfront cost burdens that authors who do not suffer from systemic discrimination may have to incur.

Then I find out that NaNoWriMo is sponsored by ProWritingAid, an AI-powered writing assistant.

This situation will be interesting to watch. What will happen next for NaNo? Perhaps nothing, perhaps they've dug their own grave.

Drama.

1 Like • Comment • View 3 comments

September 3, 2024 at 10:05am

#1076170

Just another day

Yesterday, bright blue skies and 95°, hot and dry. I took a walk around, since we really didn't do anything for the holiday. Don't get me started on the drama around that idea.

Today, I woke to cloudy skies, a cool temperature and a bit of rain. That's good, our lawn is just brown stubble. And we refuse to keep it green with nasty water that costs a fortune. Besides, conservation is always best. And a wet lawn breeds mosquitoes and grasshoppers.

It's less than a month til OctoPrep! How can that be possible? I think I'm ready. I've got my cheerleading crew all set up. We're ready to give prizes. So, get signed up you novelists!

And until then, it's the birthday celebration. I got a nice surprise from the Story Mistress. I won in the 7-11 contest. Yippee! I love gift points as prizes. So, everyone get on the stick and do those reviews!

Now to go on with the day. I am to call the publisher of the church newspaper, have to go to the county courthouse, write for the local newspaper, get the information from the post office for mailing out the filers for the charity I shepherd, and study my lines for the upcoming play I'm in.

Just another day...

Like • Comment

August 31, 2024 at 7:22pm

#1075976

Perfect Last of Summer Day

So I'm sitting upstairs by my desk on a coolish last of summer day. The sun is bright, the sky is blue, the wind is a mild breeze. Just a perfect day.

I have a busy night ahead. I have to create two invoices, for each of my little jobs. One for the local paper and one for the refuse committee that I serve. So that should take me about an hour. Then I have to submit my stories for the local paper for next week. But just as I typed this, I now remember the deadline was late Thursday because of the holiday. Well, rats.

I did have to print a retraction of a story from last week. That did make the deadline. I printed something about our water rates rising and how we now should be more mindful of our water usage. Which when you think about this, water usage should always be on your mind. But no...the city called the paper and wanted a retraction of what I wrote. They were mainly upset about the recommendation of conservation. Hmm. Weird, but okay. So I dutifully called and talked to the lady who wrote the VERY confusing letter about the water rates. This letter has everyone in town all worked up. She explained to me about the difference in the charges. And then I had to digest this, think about it, then write a correction. And then I marched down to the city offices to show her what I wrote.

"Is this alright?" She approved, as did the city works director, who heard our conversation and inserted himself into it.

So here's the retraction:

Water rates - a correction from Tanya at the city office.

Seems our water bill is based on two factors, our base rate and our usage rate. The base rate is increasing. The usage rate is not increasing.

Huh. Why didn't that go into her first letter? Writing. Making things clear for others to understand. Seems pretty basic to me.
Base rate depends on the size of your water meter. Usage rate is based on how much water goes through that meter.
Her letter to all those in the city went into EDUs and meter sizes and how much you may pay versus how much you do pay, versus how much you will pay in the future...yada yada yada. A full page full of figures and charts and gobbledegook no one understands. And she admitted as much.

Just thinking about that makes my head hurt.

Like • Comment • View 2 comments

August 25, 2024 at 9:13pm

#1075715

Earth & Wind & Fire

Last night I was sitting, reading, when all of a sudden a huge noise made me jump up and look outside. It sounded as if the top of our roof came off. The wind! Mercy sakes. And then some thunder and lightning, but almost no rain.

We are deep into fire season. Dry as a bone. We've let our yard pretty much go brown. Our water rates are rising, and we don't want to suck down all our cash watering our lawn. Let others do it, we don't. It'll come back in the fall and spring. We do water some trees, flowers, and our garden. That's all.

A large fire that started in Wyoming is now into Montana. The Remington fire has burnt about 350,000 acres so far, across those states. This link talks about this fire and others. https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/08/24/more-than-350-00-acres-burned-in-norther...

Now ranchers are worried about no winter feed for their cattle, since fire is burning across grasslands. Wildlife is impacted as well.

I read that some places in Montana are under a Stage 2 evacuation order. So, get ready, get packed. Stage 3 is get out now.

It has been so dry here, little rain storms that barely drop water, wind (such as we had last night) and very low humidity are all leading to wildfires breaking out all over. Every time I hear the fire siren go off on town, I say a prayer for those affected. Be it a car accident or a fire.

We are supposed to have some rain all day tomorrow. Yeah, right. Promises, promises.

1 Like • Comment • View 1 comment

August 21, 2024 at 11:46am

#1075548

Such Drama

I got an amazing notification that this BLOG was nominated for the 2024 Quills award in the Blogging category. Well, thank you for the nomination!

I do try to update my faithful few who read of my goings on in Roundup, MT as often as I can. Life is busy. But for me, that is good. I hate to be bored. I don't like to just sit around with nothing to do. I guess that goes back to my first real job all those many moons ago.

I worked in a diner in town, across from the county courthouse. Slow times, few and far between, were when you picked up a rag and wiped something down. Because, "If you have time to stand around you have time to clean." per the owner. So you find something to do or get relegated to doing something not too pleasant.

Big drama here right now is the increase in a few utility rates. The dump fees increased, and that unleashed a firestorm. But the rates hadn't been raised on over 10 years, so it was time. Now the water and sewer rates are being raised. So every household in Roundup got a very cryptic letter from the city about meter size and water flow and EDUs and your rate change.

Mercy me. So, I actually had to research what EDU means. Seems it means:
What is an Equivalent Dwelling Unit (EDU)?
An Equivalent Dwelling Unit (EDU) is the typical volume and strength of the wastewater generated by a single family home. One EDU = 188 gallons of wastewater per day or 68,620 gallons per year with a strength factor of 1.0. This formula is for FY 2021/22 sewer service charges.

HUH??? Now the letter addresses the EDU issue in water usage, not sewer. The person in the city office who wrote the letter is getting numerous complaints and comments by phone and on the internet. So it stands to reason, if you know what the terms mean it makes sense, but if your audience doesn't, be ready for some pushback. She acknowledges that perhaps she didn't do a good job of explaining the issue.

Writing is important people. Not just fiction, but as this goes to show, explaining everyday problems and situations to others.

The new water rates are to help fund a new source coming into town. Our current source of water is bad, as are most water wells in the area. Our city water is heavy in minerals, manganese and iron mostly. It smells bad, looks bad, wears out appliances and fixtures in your home in a few years. We have a filter system in our house and drink reverse osmosis water.

The good part of all this, the upside, no more bottled water for everyone in town. Hurrah! I hate plastic, I use a metal water bottle and refill it at home. We don't buy all that plastic. So people should rejoice they don't have to do that any more.

On a lighter note, the weather is changing. The sun has turned to a different path. Temperatures are a little more moderate. The garden is full of spaghetti squash, all volunteer plants. How did that happen??? Well, I threw out a rotten one early in the spring. Voilá! 20 squash now ripening. Grasshoppers are eating everything. Kids are back in school today.

Fall is almost here.

1 Like • Comment • View 3 comments

August 8, 2024 at 6:43pm

#1074949

Cooler Temps!

I finally got to go hiking the other day. About 2-3 miles over a calm trail near the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness - not too far from the Beartooh Highway near Red Lodge. We turned away from a stream crossing, not wanting wet feet, me, and running across wet rocks with a bum knee and bum hand, me. But that's okay. I did it. And it was good. Hot day, soaking wet with sweat, but that's okay.

Today we are at least 40° cooler than that heat wave of days past. Amazing weather flip with a storm the other day.

I saw the doctor about my hand today. Things still are improving, but the surgery was intense and it will take a year or more for it to be totally considered healed. Yep, a year. Bummer. I have no strength in my left hand. None at all, but I can finally grip things a bit. Cut my fingernails. Small victories.

OctoPrep is looking for another cheerleader - are you game? Let me know!

Like • Comment • View 1 comment

August 2, 2024 at 12:31pm

#1074683

The Heat is on

Another round of hot weather hit us. Yesterday the thermometer hit 100°. Today it's supposed to go just a bit higher. I walked around town, and it was every bit that extreme. I was one big bundle of sweat when I got home. One of those 'change all the clothes and wash yourself off' kind of sweating. Then lay down for a time. Drink lots of water. Eat some light food for lunch.

But it's all good at night when the temperature goes into the 60's. Tonight we may not be so lucky.

I'm in another play. This one's a real hilarious take on a boarding house, and all the characters in it. Seems they are looking for supposed buried gold in the basement. I play a hypochondriac. I think I have one ailment after another. Cold, pneumonia, toe fungus, among others. Should be funny, I know we laugh a lot during rehearsals. I'm riding with another lady from Roundup, so the drive through the deer suicide highway is not stressful for me. I give her a donation each trip for gas. Also for taking the stress off me and my driving my new-to-us car down the short trip and hitting a deer.

I am going to a church board meeting Sunday and telling the group I am stepping down from another position at church. I already am giving up printing the weekly bulletins for the worship service. I was doing it until they found someone else, as a favor. Well, that's been going on for a year. Time's up. Now I will also not be doing the communication for the church. So many reasons. One of which is no one tells me, the communications person, what is going on. So I'm eliminating this stressor as well. Sorry, but you know, not sorry.

The past two years have so challenging for me. I have two part-time jobs now. I need to channel my energies to what I love. And the creative juices, if you will, to what I am good at. Writing.

1 Like • Comment

July 28, 2024 at 11:27am

#1074499

The heat is gone - for now

The heat that pressed us down for about a week dissipated for the weekend. Today it's cloudy and cooler. Nice.

Everyone is wondering how we make it without air-conditioning. Quite simple, actually. You just do it. Close up the house during the day, keep the curtains and windows and doors shut. Because you opened them at night, when the temps cool off. We use fans to circulate that cooler air.

Our first floor stays at least 15-20° cooler than outside if we do all this. The second floor? Not so much. But that's okay. Still hot? Take a cool bath, put a wet towel on your neck. Wear cool clothes. Drink lots of water, not alcohol, not caffeine.

We're in for another round of heat this coming week. No worries. It is summer, after all. We grew up without air-conditioning. Let me tell you, nothing like living in a humid NE Ohio in July and August in a heat wave. And of course, cars back then didn't have it either. So you didn't want to be in the middle of the back seat with your brother and sister on either side.

I found out that the newspaper publisher is giving ownership of the paper to another writer sometime the end of this year. I am meeting with her this coming week to discuss her plans going forward. Perhaps my role will be larger? We'll see. I've gotten quite a few compliments on my contribution to the paper. We put in each week a little column "Seen around Town" - kind of a play on 'scene' and 'round' as in 'Roundup'.

I write this little blurb throughout the week, then send it in sometime before noon on Sunday. Seems to be an easy gig so far.

Everyone enjoy these last few weeks of summer. We'll be getting cooler before we know it here in Montana. Our summer is at best 8-10 weeks. But this year, well, who knows.

1 Like • Comment • View 1 comment

July 22, 2024 at 12:34pm

#1074274

Heat

Holy cow it's hot - we are in the midst of a heat wave. As a great portion of the US. But for Montana, this is unusual. Usually, it'll hot for a day or two or three. But for a week or two, pretty unusual.

We don't have A/C in our home. It gets pretty cool at night, so we open the house, let it cool off and close all the windows during the day. The next two days are to be 100° with a cool-down coming after that. Mercy. I have my office and pretty much all my business on the second floor. And it does get pretty hot up here.

In the green, which my husband is tending this year, the potatoes are growing fine, as are the tomatoes. But the spinach bolted - went to seed - as spinach likes to do when it gets hot. The kale will probably do the same soon. There are melons or squash coming on. He's not sure which. So, I try not to boss around the manager of the garden. It will succeed or fail, it's up to him. I cannot do much still with my hand.

There is a big controversy, as expected, with the increase on everyone's taxes for the dump site. A lot of misinformation, the rumors and lies. Curious how some tales get told. I wrote a little blurb for the paper. Since I sit on the governing board as secretary/treasurer and can submit to the paper, I have a pretty good idea of what actually is going on.

Speaking of the paper, I had to insert two corrections this week. I didn't give credit to the proper non-profit for the 'Shakespeare in the Park' presentation a few weeks ago. And I gave bad information about the summer free lunch program for children. Oops. But, I will admit my mistakes.

So it's summer, it is supposed to be hot. Soon it will be winter here. I will enjoy the sun and warm while I can.

6 Like • Comment • View 2 comments

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