It’s the first weekday since my Summer Vacation started. I was thinking of getting a summer job, but I thought better. This school year was tough and the chronic health issues I ended up battling at random intervals didn’t help. Need to give my body, mind, and heart a rest. It’ll be the next school year before I know it, so I have 2 months to relax and do some personal projects. So, what’s the overall plan?
Write Darwin & the Halfling Hunt
Possibly write Darwin & the Avenging Elf
Bike every other day
Time with my son when he’s not in camp.
Sleep in when I can
Make sure I hydrate properly
Eat healthier lunches like fruit or hummus
Prepare September posts for blog when I only have 20 minutes free
I’m pretty sure everyone just thought of a specific one. Yet, there are five species. One is the platypus and the other four are types of echidna. All are listed as critically endangered due to habitat loss and overhunting. Bushfires, drought, and invasive predator species are other threats. At least, that’s what some sites said. Others said only two of the echidnas are critically endangered while the rest are fine. Still with me? I’m guessing at least one person isn’t sure what an echidna is, so I’ll explain.
Echidna:
Also called spiny anteaters, but not related to true anteaters.
There is the short-beaked echidna, Eastern long-beaked echidna, Western long-beaked echidna, and Sir David’s Echidna aka Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna. (They don’t actually have beaks.)
When threatened, they will try to bury themselves with their spines aimed up. If they can’t dig, they roll into a ball.
Males have spurs that secrete a milky substance during breeding season. (This is important for later.)
They have no teeth.
They can feel vibrations through their nose.
Both males and females have pouches.
No, they don’t punch people when angry.
Babies are called puggles.
Eastern Long-Beaked Echidna
Short-Beaked Echidna
Sir David’s Echidna
Western Long-Beaked Echidna
So, what about the platypus?
They are REAL animals that look like a combination of a duck, otter, and beaver.
They aren’t green or spies.
Males have venomous spurs on their hide legs. Venom isn’t deadly, but it hurts.
Under ultraviolet light, their fur glows green and blue.
A platypus bill has tens of thousands of sensory receptors to allow them to sense things underwater.
Platypuses (and echidnas) don’t have stomachs, but gullets that put food directly into the intestine.
Since they don’t have teeth, they scoop up gravel with food to grinding it down.
Yesterday was the last day of the 2021-2022 school year. I survived in technically one piece. My son did great as far as his grades go. Things have been cleaned up and the work clothes have been put away for 2 months. Seriously, I don’t want to wear slacks and dress shirts until September. So, what to do now?
My summer is going to be simple because I’m tired. When I have time with my son, I’m going to do stuff with him. Unless he wants to play his new Pokemon game, which will be him playing on one side of the room and me writing on the other. We’ll see how this system works. I could very easily get drawn into what he’s doing or be needed for help at various points. He is at the age where he needs to entertain himself, but it’s tough since I mostly did schoolwork with him for the last 10 months. We have a lot of cartoons and movies to catch up on. Before anybody says it, we will be going outside when the weather is good and not too hot.
The big thing is going to be getting back into writing. I’m into chapter 5 of Slumberlord Chronicles: Darwin & the Halfling Hunt and I should be able to get into chapter 9 of 18 by Wednesday. The plan is to finish this book before the end of July and take maybe a day before jumping into Darwin & the Avenging Elf. This way, I should be able to get both books done or at least close to done before the next school year. If the past year is any example, I won’t be getting any writing time. So, this will give me 3 finished novels that I can start working on publishing after some editing. Printing out the books and hand-editing during lunch and prep period worked out really well. I’m still hoping to publish Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Fantasy Writing Tips) sometime this year if I can get the pieces together. Dragging my feet on the blurb, the pricing, and the usual post-editing stuff.
Another thing I need to focus on is health. I’m leery about mentioning what I’m planning since people always pounce on this subject. You can’t mention a dietary change without someone declaring why it’s a bad move or how it can be improved regardless of you asking for that input. Seriously, it’s stressful and difficult to take such steps like exercising every other day or cutting out a favorite food. Pouncing like that is an easy way to get a person to give up before they even start. I’m saying this as someone who is still on the fence because several people have already told him why he shouldn’t do what he is about to do.
I’m going to add yogurt and grapefruit to my diet as well as severely limit, but not fully eliminate, fast food. Going to drink primarily water too with a soda maybe once a week, but only if I get fast food. Looking into finding gourmet salads too, which I can have with a simple marinated chicken for dinner at times. For a month, I’m going to be doing all the cooking, which means plenty of leftovers too. Might keep it up after that, but then I get stressed over all of the critiques and complaints. Avoiding stress is another thing that I have to do during the summer. We’ll see how that goes.
Funny thing is that I know I have a ‘Summer Goals’ post coming up on Monday. So, I’m not sure if those have changed, but I’m too lazy to check. We’ll see what happens. I think a few of the items were already finished because I realized the next day that I shouldn’t put them off like the September (and October) posts.
So, goals of the week?
Write more Darwin & the Halfling Hunt.
Zoo trip with son.
Fireworks show.
Visit family.
Grocery shopping to prepare for camp and dinners.
Start a new puzzle.
Get a haircut.
Hydrate!
Maybe start ‘The Boys’ Season 3 or something else. Depends on my mind. Still on the fence about ‘Umbrella Academy’ Season 3 since I was meh on the second season when I watched it again.
Help son start playing ‘Pokemon Legends: Arceus’.
Figure out party favors for his birthday.
By the way, I made an Instagram post about a Lego set I finished. Want to see if I can link to it here. CLICK!
Yup. Last day of school here. Get 2 months of relaxing bef . . . We all know I’m not going to be relaxing. I’ve got 2 months to write 1-2 books, spend time with my son, exercise, hydrate, and sleep in. I won’t exhaust myself, but I’m definitely not going to let any moss grow on me. Still, enjoy the funnies while take in the end of another year. (All pictures found in a Google Image Search.)
Legends of Windemere 