Catchy? Are you Kidding? It's ME!

Hello every – bodieeee!

I actually opened this document on July 2, which I had earmarked to write the column, and I did get this far! We’ll see how far I get… it’s almost the infamous July the 4th, and starting late last night, kids were setting off the biggest, loudest bangers of all. Some right outside my window as well, and just now, at 830PM, they’re starting in again. With the CPTSD I have, I jump horribly, usually with much swearing at the noise. And my poor cat! She was lying beside me last night when the first one, one of the biggest I’d ever heard, went off. She accidentally scratched me as she fled to get away from the noise, which she can’t, of course. Now she’s staring at the window, just as tense as I am. I will still keep working, and will hopefully finish the column before it gets really bad.

First, a bit of news… I’m participating in a medical trial, and had a pump placed in my left hip near the spine, with a tube from the pump directly into the spinal column, where pain medication is being – delivered. (Yep, first interruption. Several explosions and MewMew came on my lap for about ten minutes. It’s quiet again so she got back down.) I go in for regular checks, and what is sweet is that I get a small monetary compensation for each visit. It’ll be monthly visits soon. My next appointment isn’t an official one, it’s to check the incision site and change or take the bandages all the way off. Yes, it’s a lump in my lower back just above the butt cheek, but the pain is lessening and I’ve learned how to position myself on my side and not be directly on it. It’s like a hockey puck, but already the pain I’ve been living with for years in the spine has gone down. I can tell the pump to deliver an extra dose, called a Bolus, when I need it. Like before getting up to cook for myself. Or going out of the apartment. I carry a separate phone and the communicator unit with me everywhere in case I need it. The trial lasts, if I remember right, eighteen months. After, I get to keep the device, and it will signal my unit when it needs refilled. According to the docs and manuals, that’s just a tiny needle inject into the port of the unit, to drain what might be left, then refill it. I think my last check said six months of meds left. It sure feels nice to not have serious spine pain, and when I feel it coming on, to be able to get a dose of meds that aren’t opioids! If it keeps getting better like they say it should (and has so far), it is worth the pain and suffering of the implant and the long healing time. (six to eight weeks no twisting or lifting over five pounds, and a bit more. I’ve hired a teen to do trash and lifting for me, so all’s good.)

Now for the Hooks portion of Books & Hooks: learning more patterns! I bought three patterns today, not expensive at all, and will be making them as other projects go along. Four are wall hangings that have only one word on each one: Fuck, Damn, Hell and Shit. I’ll even make these for sale in the colors the customer wants. I’ve got two lap blankets in the works; one that is a curved ripple pattern in rainbow colors, nice and bright, and one that’s called a Temperature blanket. That one’s for me. It’s a year-long project where I record the high temperature of every day. Every ten-degree range has it’s own color, like yellow for the 50’s, orange for the 60’s, and so forth. I start my temps at -10 F up to 70. I’ll have to buy another color for 80 and above, but only if our temps reach there. We’re not being plagued by the super-hot temps the western US and Canada are having, we’ve been staying in the 60’s lately, which is nice. If you want something made for you – hats, cowls, scarves, lap blankets, socks, fingerless gloves, wall art, etc, let me know. We can find the pattern you like, the colors you want and a nice price. I even make produce bags to go to groceries to hold – what else? – PRODUCE!

As for the Books portion… yet another novel is being published in July, called The Long Trip Home. In short, eight hundred years ago, a ship from outer space crashed on the Australian continent. The people aboard the ships scattered around the world, watching, staying hidden and trying to collect all the pieces of the ship that peeled off as they circled the globe in the death spiral. The aliens were of the same stellar seed stock, and found that they were able to advance the mentality of the human race on a faster rate than if humans were left to themselves to evolve. In the current age, the end of the mission seems almost upon them, but one of the two factions of aliens has decided to change the mission to suit only themselves, and sets to warring on the other faction. The leader of the Northern Continent Contingent is now the target of the South Continent Contingent, and events spiral out of control. When it seems that the mission failing is the only end result, can the help of ordinary humans help the aliens make it through? After all… all the aliens want is to go home.

Ok, that’s a short blurb. How’s it sound? Interested? I surely hope so. Before July will be half gone, I should have a cover made and inspected by my cover editor Nancy Buck. The story already went through its paces to my plot editor, Nanci Taylor. (yes, two Nanciy’s! I love them both!) Surely by the August blog, it will be on Amazon, and I will ensure it gets posted on my new website and on the FB Taborri Walker page as well.

It’s late now… several interruptions have occurred, and I know there’s more firework explosions to come, so I’m signing off. I’ll post this on the 3rd – tomorrow – and will finish what I need to do to get the covers on order. And if I haven’t said it lately, I’ll say again, I love all of you, I’m so glad you’re all in my life!