The Dastardly Dungeon of Deliciously Devious Drinks

jallenecs said:

Apple. I live in the same mountain range you're discussing. We had a bunch of apple trees, and I LIVED in those stinkers when I was young. White pine would also work in a pinch, but you get sap all over yourself, white gunky stuff, blech.

ETA: Younger Daughter says, silver maple.

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Given the location, I had a feeling you'd have an answer for me. Thanks! Silver maples are purty, but with an apple tree, I imagine MC could have a nice snack while she was up there too. Oh the decisions!

JJ Litke said:

How to recognize different types of trees from quite a long way away.

#1 — The Larch.

The Larch.

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Sorry, that was probably less than helpful.

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Hehe!

E.F.B. said:

*poke poke* Guys? This is story-related: I need the name of a type of tree. It needs to be a variety that would be good for a girl under the age of 15 to be able to climb up and sit in the branches. Also, it needs to be a variety that could be found in the more mountainous and wooded regions of Virginia (cuz that's where MC lives).

I'd try to look one up, but I'm afraid I'll get distracted if I start Googling, and I'm kind of on a roll at the moment, so thought I'd try the Cantina's collective intelligence first.

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jallenecs said:

Apple. I live in the same mountain range you're discussing. We had a bunch of apple trees, and I LIVED in those stinkers when I was young. White pine would also work in a pinch, but you get sap all over yourself, white gunky stuff, blech.

ETA: Younger Daughter says, silver maple.

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Second for apple. Didn't come from that area but I used to climb into the one in my grandmother's back yard and I figure Virginia isn't too far south for them.

Snack depends on the time of year. Apple season (in NY) is August-October depending on weather and the particular species. Before that, green applies...not good eating.

Apples in Tennessee come earlier than that though. We had some end of June.

I shall proceed to grumble that NY's local crop is running late this year because of summer drought.

Apple season was definitely a thing I missed in Arizona.

I'll third (fourth?) the apple. I used to climb my apple tree in Michigan all the time as a kid. I know they're in Virginia and West Virginia as well. Good knobbly bits for holding on to. Mine was big - the branches reached over the garage.

I just got a call from the insurance adjuster. It is a total loss. The value would be $4056 if we turned it in. But we get $3856 if we keep it. We are doing the latter. We’ll keep the van for about a year as it's drivable (inspection is good for that long, at least!) and take our time finding a replacement vehicle. Should be able to find something for around $5-$6K, and we’ll be in better shape in a year to do that.

Wrote 2,800 words today. Might fit in some more before 5pm. It was sticky at first but now it's flowing. And who knew? A tertiary character has a tragic past. Her husband was taken as a slave by the King of Orkney. She'll never see him again, but she's not free to marry my second MC. Ah, young love! At least they can boink.

We had huge oak trees back in Missouri that were perfect for climbing. Spent many an afternoon lounging in the split between two branches with a canteen and a book. Question was, would I run out of water/tea before I ran out of book?

Apple works fine. The main requirement is that it be a big enough tree that, after it was struck by lightning and died, MC's mom would want it cut down and removed before it could fall and hurt anyone. Poor tree. It's the first character I ever killed off.

Aggy B. said:

Apples in Tennessee come earlier than that though. We had some end of June.

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Agreed. June apples (they're actually called June apples) come ripe in late June, early July. Hard, small, yellow-ish. They are the best for pie making, because of their texture; they stay firm, but not too firm.

JJ Litke said:

How to recognize different types of trees from quite a long way away.

#1 — The Larch.

The Larch.

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry, that was probably less than helpful.

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Nevertheless it was funny. Currently rewatching these, am up to series 2, just had the 'Blackmail' sketch.

E.F.B. said:

Apple works fine. The main requirement is that it be a big enough tree that, after it was struck by lightning and died, MC's mom would want it cut down and removed before it could fall and hurt anyone. Poor tree. It's the first character I ever killed off.

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Ooh, in town, one of the houses just by the flood wall had an enormous cottonwood tree. It was so big you couldn't put your arms all the way round the trunk. It was struck by lightning and -- I kid you not -- the path of the electricity burned a double helix into the bark. Seriously, two opposing spirals, running down the tree into the ground.

jallenecs said:

Ooh, in town, one of the houses just by the flood wall had an enormous cottonwood tree. It was so big you couldn't put your arms all the way round the trunk. It was struck by lightning and -- I kid you not -- the path of the electricity burned a double helix into the bark. Seriously, two opposing spirals, running down the tree into the ground.

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Kewl.

greendragon said:

Wrote 2,800 words today. Might fit in some more before 5pm. It was sticky at first but now it's flowing. And who knew? A tertiary character has a tragic past. Her husband was taken as a slave by the King of Orkney. She'll never see him again, but she's not free to marry my second MC. Ah, young love! At least they can boink.

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Orkney always reminds me of Lot of Orkney from the Arthurian tales.


I just submitted three short stories to various markets. Fingers crossed...

Tomorrow, back to my outline.

Yesterday turned out to be even less poopy than I predicted! I got a letter from that contest I entered back in July, (PolarExpressions Canada) and they have selected me for the second round, and will publish my short story in a collection with 270 others. Yay me! I have a good feeling I might even win a bit moolah in this contest, but one way or another, I'll be published in December!!!!

greendragon said:

Wrote 2,800 words today. Might fit in some more before 5pm. It was sticky at first but now it's flowing. And who knew? A tertiary character has a tragic past. Her husband was taken as a slave by the King of Orkney. She'll never see him again, but she's not free to marry my second MC. Ah, young love! At least they can boink.

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HA! That made me laugh aloud. When will this story be ready? It's in your second trilogy, right?

E.F.B. said:

Apple works fine. The main requirement is that it be a big enough tree that, after it was struck by lightning and died, MC's mom would want it cut down and removed before it could fall and hurt anyone. Poor tree. It's the first character I ever killed off.

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s tree's corpse.

Richard White said:

We had huge oak trees back in Missouri that were perfect for climbing. Spent many an afternoon lounging in the split between two branches with a canteen and a book. Question was, would I run out of water/tea before I ran out of book?

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That sounds like THA LIFE! Man, I wish I had known how to read when I was younger. :\

*peers out from smibble pile*

Is it wrong that I may or may not have done very bad things to a character named Grandma? (*cough* said character may or may not be a very not-nice Grandma, mind you...)

~Winks, who is happy to be furiously writing a novelette idea, even if it's not pirates. Because words. Glorious words.

*evil cackles*

-ahem-

That was Grandma, I swear.

All right, Dammy!

Hooray for Dammy!

Good morning Cantina.

aliwood said:

Nevertheless it was funny. Currently rewatching these, am up to series 2, just had the 'Blackmail' sketch.

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You were one of the people I thought would get the reference. I ought to rewatch them myself as it's been a long time. And I haven't seen series 4 (sans Cleese) since it was repeated in the late 70s/early 80s. Those were the first ones I saw. Ali - that's a very woody sound, isn't it?

No excuse really as all four series are on DVD and it's not expensive. My birthday is less than a month away, so I'm going to add it to the suggestion list.

And just to prove I don't entirely live in the past, I've just watched an episode of Top of the Pops from 1982. Will the Goombay Dance Band still be at number one next week, or will it be Bucks Fizz? I'll watch it next week and find out!

Off to day job in an hour from now.

eyeblink said:

Good morning Cantina.



You were one of the people I thought would get the reference. I ought to rewatch them myself as it's been a long time. And I haven't seen series 4 (sans Cleese) since it was repeated in the late 70s/early 80s. Those were the first ones I saw. Ali - that's a very woody sound, isn't it?

No excuse really as all four series are on DVD and it's not expensive. My birthday is less than a month away, so I'm going to add it to the suggestion list.

And just to prove I don't entirely live in the past, I've just watched an episode of Top of the Pops from 1982. Will the Goombay Dance Band still be at number one next week, or will it be Bucks Fizz? I'll watch it next week and find out!

Off to day job in an hour from now.

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What I find most interesting about MP now is realising just how clever Terry Gilliam is. The animated sketch links are works of pure genius sometimes, and I've ended up thinking "just exactly how did he get from there to there", he just makes it work.

If you're on TOTP 1982, you must be somewhere near the Elvis Costello appearances huh? Drummer Pete Thomas steals the show doing the drum solo on his head, Bruce Thomas proves that bass players can't dance. Boy, it's a long time since I've seen that. Might go metube in a moment and look.

This morning I am researching cantina, which is almost writing, right? John Lennon quotes, you can have this one for free:

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination".


I seem to be doing this sans tea, something definitely wrong there.

Damoclian said:

Yesterday turned out to be even less poopy than I predicted! I got a letter from that contest I entered back in July, (PolarExpressions Canada) and they have selected me for the second round, and will publish my short story in a collection with 270 others. Yay me! I have a good feeling I might even win a bit moolah in this contest, but one way or another, I'll be published in December!!!!



HA! That made me laugh aloud. When will this story be ready? It's in your second trilogy, right?
\

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CONGRATULATIONS TO DAMMY!@!!!

Yes, this is the first book of the second trilogy (three trilogies planned because...symmetry).

Lot of Orkney was from Orkney... the same islands up off the northeast coast of SCotland. Which is VERY far away from Camelot. Almost as far as you can get and still be in Britain (except Shetland Islands).

I ended up with 3.600 words yesterday. Also, my van is totaled. However, it is driveable and the only thing really wrong with it is the sliding side door won't open. The insurance company can buy it out for $3800, so we will do that and take our time looking for a replacement. Maybe next year after my bonus in March.

Of course, we tried to hook up my trailer to the Ford this morning for the first time. Brand new 2" hitch ball... the trailer (with 2" coupling) fit over it but would. not. lock. Couldn't figure out why. So husband has to go and find either a new ball or ask Tractor Supply what's going on. We leave for my art show tonight. Sigh. At least husband is driving again.

Mornin' Cantina. Words happening, I guess. I did get a little written yesterday, but I'm struggling a little with getting my MC transitioned between her own world and the other world. I've had a general idea of how it happens in my head for years, but it's working out the details that always kills me. I need to show what her "normal" is before I rip it away from her, but it can't be boring or info-dumping. But then I have to show how her normal has had some abnormal elements mixed in and hint at that being significant, but again, I don't want info-dump. I'm also having trouble not feeling like the transition from her doing a normal thing to, BOOM the thing that transfers her to the other world happens, is too abrupt, but then maybe it needs to be abrupt? Eh. I'll work on it.

Damoclian said:

Yesterday turned out to be even less poopy than I predicted! I got a letter from that contest I entered back in July, (PolarExpressions Canada) and they have selected me for the second round, and will publish my short story in a collection with 270 others. Yay me! I have a good feeling I might even win a bit moolah in this contest, but one way or another, I'll be published in December!!!!

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Yay, mazel tov, Dammy!


Just popping in to say hello. I don't know what happened to my morning, but there it goes. Gone. I have 2 1/2 hours left until I pick up the dragonlets from school and I had a new short story idea in the car today, so I'm off to make words!

xoxo

Yay, Dammy!

Hope the trailer hitch issue has gotten resolved, GD.

All the typing over the past week has caused a minor tendonitis flare-up. Ouch. Took some over-the-counter NSAIDs and trying to take it slower today. Vacuuming the front room with the hose on the canister vac probably didn't help - for sure it made my bad shoulder hurt, and no doubt contributed to the ache in my hands. Not anything to worry about, just irritating at this point.

Mr. Aggy is wanting to go to a high school football game this evening. So, I probably won't be writing tonight which will give my wrists a little extra time off.

For now, it's naptime before I go pick up Monkey from school. (No kenpo today because it's Friday.)

Aggy, sore

Aggy, you might try getting some of those wrist-support pad thingies to put in front of your keyboard if you don't already have some. Also, try stopping every 15-20 minutes or so and do some hand stretches. Hold your arm out straight and use your right hand to pull the fingers of your left hand back towards you until you feel a good stretch in the inside of your palm and wrist, then do the same for the fingers on your right hand. (You can do this by pushing against a table too and do both hands at once.) Push your hands downward to get that stretch in the outside of your wrist. Roll your wrists in circles in the air clockwise then counter clockwise. Squeeze your hands into fists then open them and stretch your fingers out as far as they'll go. It only takes a minute and it really loosens things up. Make it a habit. I say this as a knitter/crocheter who has used these stretches to avoid wrist problems despite crafting on a regular basis for 10+ years.

I wrote 283 words. Not as many as I would have hoped, but at least I think I kind of sort of figured out the scene I was struggling with earlier. MC is now in the midst of being transferred to the other world where her adventure will begin!