A #NewBook + #CanadianThanksgiving + A #Chinchilla Birthday + #BadMoonRising + Some Random Ramblings

As you might have seen in Monday's post, I published a new story.  It's called "Tedi And The Soothing Snow" and is all about a little bear's struggles to come to terms with the loss of his best friend.  I'm hopeful I'll be announcing the availability of the book on more than just Smashwords soon - I'm just waiting for that to happen.  Once the eBook version is available elsewhere, I'll start the process of publishing the paperback, and then start looking for someone to do the audio version.

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This past Monday (October 11th) was Canadian Thanksgiving.

 

We didn't really do anything for it other than acknowledging it on social media and having a Thanksgiving-ish themed dinner, which in my case was garlic mashed potatoes, sweetcorn, green beans, carrots, onion gravy, and cranberry sauce.  But at least we didn't completely ignore it.  Besides, since Kelly and I are actually the only ones in the immediate family to acknowledge Canadian Thanksgiving (or try to, with varying levels of success from year to year) which we only do because Kelly's Canadian, there wasn't a whole lot more we could have done for it anyhow.

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Tuesday (October 12th) was Mollie the chinchilla's birthday.  She's now six years old.

 

I gave her some oatmeal with berries in it for breakfast, which she seemed to decide was a great way to celebrate her birthday.  Really there isn't much more to be done to celebrate the birthday of a chinchilla.  Especially one who - despite opening up a lot since we moved to this house almost a year ago - will only tolerate human company and interaction for a short time, and then only when she's in the mood for it.

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October is Teri Polen's "Bad Moon Rising" event - like it is every year.

 

I've joined in the fun with my book "Vinnie The Vegetarian Zombie" again.  My interview post went up yesterday (October 14th) and - if you missed seeing it, but would like to read it - ccan be found here.

 

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My Mam got me a waffle maker as an early Christmas present.  Yes, I asked for it.

 

I wanted to be able to make waffles.  Plus, it's not only a waffle maker.  It has removable plates, and the spare plates that come with it transform it in to a doughnut maker, toasted sandwich maker, or small grill.

 

I told Mam she could keep it aside until Christmas, even though I knew about it, but she told me to go ahead and have it now.  So I did.

I've tried out all the different plates at least once, making veganized versions of waffles with maple syrup, doughnuts with chocolate on top, and cheese and bean toasties, all of which are pictured below:

I also grilled tofu, made vegan cheese and tomato toasties a couple of times, and made waffles again; this time with coconut creme fresh, banana, and agave syrup.  But I didn't get photos of those, even though I got better at judging cooking time, so my later attempts have been better than the first ones.

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As you might have figured out from the doughnuts, toasted sandwiches, and waffles, the dental issue I was dealing with is no longer bothering me.  The abscess is gone, and there's no longer any pain.

The viral and chest infections seem to have cleared up too - I think - so I now appear to be back to just my usual level of tiredness, and the health issues I just have to put up with on a daily basis. 

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Oh, and I forgot to tell you that I learned when I was dealing with blood tests recently that they neglected to tell me something strange back in April, which I should have been told, and which remains the case in my blood now... I'm missing the antibodies to Covid my body should have created with my having the Vaccination back at the end of March.  I literally have none, which shouldn't be the case, even if we look at the time between now and then, and definitely shouldn't have been the case only a month after I had the shot.  But there it is.

 

The whole point of the Covid jab is to help your body form antibodies to fight Covid if you're later exposed to it.  My body, however, didn't form any.  In short, I've gone through all this with issues from having nasty reactions from the jab, and it's for nothing.  I've got no protection against Covid, and the health issues aggrivated by my having had the jab appear to be remaining aggrivated.

All I can say is: I guess it's a good thing I don't see many people or go out much anyhow, and that my low resistance to infection, and inability to have the second jab, meant I'd been continuing to be cautious, and interacted physically with as few people as possible.

 

~

 

Anyway, last week, while I was still recovering, I got a call from the receptionist at the doctor's surgery to ask if I'd like my flu jab this year, and if so  could she make me an appointment to go to the surgery for it.  I get asked every year, even though I know for a fact my history of bad reactions to the jab that made me stop having it is mentioned in my notes a couple of times.  I can only assume they're just giving me the oppertunity to decide to risk it if I want to.  Either that, or they just automatically call everyone without bothering to read their medical notes, which is a strong possibility to be honest.

I said, "No.  I don't need a bad reaction to a jab right now, thanks.  I'm suffering enough from the last one."

She just calmly said, "OK.  I'll put that in your notes."  There was the sound of typing for a few seconds, and then she said, "Goodbye," and hung up.

Now I'm wondering if she just wrote that I refused it, or actually put exactly what I said in my notes.  LOL!

 

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Dad's started coming over to spend Tuesday evenings at our place, to do something together and have dinner here.  He'll be bringing my brother, Wayne, with him some weeks, but this week it was just Dad.

 

While Dad was here, we got the supplies I'm storing for his craft projects properly organized.  You probably saw them with my various projects waiting to be completed when I showed you the finished craft room and the stuff in the bedroom; he asked me to keep them here with mine.  But, though I had the stuff all nicely put together, I wanted him to properly organize them himself, since he had some things kept together for certain projects he wanted to work on, and I didn't want to mix things up.  Anyway, they're sorted now, and the couple of items among them he didn't need - or that weren't meant to be with them, but got mixed in with his stuff - are put in their proper places in the craft room now.

 

Then, after dinner, we watched the first two episodes of "A Discovery Of Witches" on DVD.  Dad loves the show so much he was eager to see it again, even though this is his fifth time watching it, but I've never seen it before.  Though I'm enjoying it a lot, I'm not sure I completely share Dad's enthusiasm; I don't exactly love it quite as much as Dad does, but I can see why he loves it so much, and am definitely enjoying it.  I'd give it a five out of five stars so far, but it's because I round up, since it's somewhere between a four and five star for me.  I know Dad wouldn't hesitate to give it the full five stars though.

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I finished the blanket I was working on knitting that my Nan had started.  Not sure if you remember me mentioning that there was a half-knitted blanket among the craft projects I inherited from Nan (Dad's Mother) along with her craft supplies? Well, anyway it's that blanket.  I've been trying to finish it for several weeks, and finally did on Sunday.  So, here's a photo of it now that it's finished:

Nan had knitted all of the green part, and some of the yellow.  I finished the yellow, and also added the blue stripe.  I don't know if Nan intended adding another colour after the yellow, but I decided to do so.

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Tomorrow is my brother's birthday.  Carl almost never reads my blog, but just in case... Happy birthday, Carl!