October 2003  

With the rain we’ve had and the weather getting cool, it certainly is feeling like fall. It’s also getting dark much too early for me, just a few short weeks ago it was still light well past 8 p.m.

I’m not looking forward to another winter. Not that we have bad winters here, it’s just with the shorter days and cooler weather I sometimes get a little achy feeling now and then.

There are no more relaxing evenings on the patio swing. Oh, not because of the cooler weather or even the rain. (We were very thankful for the rain, which was a huge help in containing the wildfires that are still burning in Kelowna and other areas of our province.)  

We can no longer sit outside because of the stinkbugs!  (Click here to read more about Stinkbugs.) What annoying little creatures they are. They’re everywhere, and I mean, everywhere! They crawl on the windows; they crawl all over the house. There’s not just one or two here and there. When I looked out my living room window the other morning I saw four of them in a group, I suppose having a meeting, planning their strategy to get inside. And worst of all, they sometimes succeed. When you open the door there they are, sitting on it and they take this as an invitation to come in. Then, when you kill them – they stink!

Someone needs to invent a spray or something that would kill them all off.  If that were possible, the person would make a fortune! Mom and I are now in the habit of checking each other over before we come into the house; the little beggars are great hitchhikers.

When we went out the other day they were flying around so bad that we almost had to wave our hand to keep them from landing on us. It’s a good thing they make noise as they fly or you’d never know how many you’re carrying around on your back. We parked the car, got out and there were two on the hood instantly and of course more flying around. I have never seen such a thing in my life. I can now understand when someone says, “They were flying around in plague proportions.” 

I feel sorry for people who have to work outside, especially the guy at the bottle depot. He told Mom that because there is so much “sweet stuff” around, and I don’t think he meant Mom, that the bugs were really bad.

At least Mom has a new hobby. Being the type of person who loves to be outside, she now makes a few trips around the house every day killing as many of these little critters as she can. I think if she wanted to she could circle the house continually. No sooner does she get inside and they are all over the windows again, not to mention they have taken over our patio swing.    

So, enough of my stinkbugs woes, now onto better and more exciting things.

Last month we began our author visits once again. If you like, you can check out the reports of these visits on our website under the “News” tab.

So far we’ve been getting a great response to the second episode, Lost and Found, of The Adventures of Davey and Kathy. It’s wonderful to sit and watch the faces of the children as they listened to the story being read. And the questions these children come up with, we really enjoy each and every visit.

We’ve also been getting positive feedback from the teachers and librarians. It makes me want to get all the books published at once. But each episode will come out as it is meant to.

Another wonderful thing that happened is we have recently upgraded my computer. As a result I now have a new program that allows me to speak to my computer and it translates my speech into text. I never thought such a thing would be possible, but it is terrific. Mind you, it doesn't get every word exactly right but it's a lot better than typing every word and so much easier on my shoulders and neck. It is also much faster.

Now, I will be done my memos in half the time. Hey, who knows maybe I can have them out on time as well. I have even trained it to transcribe my name with a K instead of a C. Now if only I can get it to spell the last part of my name correctly.

This program hasn’t quite mastered my last name but I’m working on it. Sometimes I just have to sit and shake my head in amazement at what technology has been able to do. In the training program for this “speech to text,” it said that they have been working on this for over 30 years. I guess it’s true what they say, “everything in its own good time.”

Just think of how fast people could be writing books now. And what this kind of program could do for people who don’t have the use of their hands or aren’t able to type at all. I just sit back and marvel at it all.

I have to pause here and thank Randall, from Tutor Tech, for all his help and suggestions with my computer issues. He has made the whole process a lot easier to take. He and Corey, the owner of Tutor Tech, have been nothing but patient and understanding. They are always willing to answer all my questions!

So if you live in the Lumby area and need help with your computer, these are the guys to call.

I guess that wraps up another monthly memo, we will continue our author’s visits and continue to report on them.

So until next month enjoy the sunshine while we have it and be well. J

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