C.S. Boyack's Blog

It was only one day, but I made some good headway on my space opera. It felt good for a change. I was also going to write on Friday, but that was the day my daughter called.

She lives on the outskirts of Boston, in New Hampshire. She was talking about everyone loving baked beans with canned bread.

I’ve had baked beans before, and my wife makes really good ones. We live out west, and have never even heard of canned bread before. While we were chatting, she looked it up for me, then sent me some images.

Apparently, it is cooked in the can before it is sealed. I half-expected a dough that I would have to bake, but any live yeast would break the can eventually.

She confessed to having never tried it before. She can be a picky eater, but I am intrigued. I love all this regional stuff, and it is just so foreign to me. Because it is round it might make fun little breakfast sandwiches or something.

I fully expect her to send me some, so I will be patient. If not, I might have to venture to Amazon so I can check this out myself.

In reverse, I doubt they could find Basque chorizo anywhere east of the Mississippi.

I also played games, dabbled in my garden, and all the standard things. I watched the new movie “Mayday,” and really enjoyed it. Still doing weekly check ins on Reacher and Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.

Loving this cooler weather for a change. The AC doesn’t want to come on until 3:00 or so, and some days not at all. Feels really good after the hottest summer on record. I’m sure it will spike again. We have been known to have summer temperatures until October around here, but it is a nice reprieve.

Looking forward to next week, because what I really want to do is write.

I hope everyone is enjoying themselves and finding a bit of time for the things you love.

I’m so excited to see this one come up today. I’ve known that Teri was reading it for quite a while. Jump over to her site and check it out.

Article V by C.S. Boyack #politicalthriller #suspense

I woke up to the sound of balloons again today.

I about fell on my head trying to shoot straight up, because I wanted the balloonist and the moon in the same shot. I waited in hopes that he would drift closer, but the wind wasn’t on my side.

My cucumbers and the cherry tomato seem to have developed some kind of rust on the leaves. Seems weird for any fungus to put out the effort as hot and dry as it is. This late in the season I’m not going to worry about it. They’re all still flowering and setting fruit. Beats trying to spray with something then worrying about eating it later.

I also plucked two of my Asian pears. I haven’t tried them yet, but September is about right for them. Maybe do the taste test this afternoon.

Ran an errand for my wife this week which should have been simple enough. I got pulled over and given a warning because I failed to signal for a lane change. He’s right. I didn’t, but I was the only car for a mile. No idea who I was supposed to signal for. In either case, he was technically correct and he can sleep well knowing he protected the world from lane changers. Maybe he should haunt some of the gravel roads, bet he could catch a lot of dangerous drivers there. At least he didn’t ticket me, just wasted my time.

I am perfectly capable of wasting my own time, thank you very much. I didn’t actually do any writing this week. Old What’s Her Face is off for three days, so I’m not doing any then either. I’ll try to hit it when she goes back to work.

I’ve been wasting a lot of time making AI art, then sharing it on an obscure Reddit room. So much of the stuff I see is low effort, but I really try to be creative with it. Mine come out more like Far Side panels. There is a certain creativity to it all, a bit of thought about how to tell a story with just a caption and one image. It also provides rapid gratification compared to writing a novel for a year, then waiting to see that first review. I keep telling myself I am learning a new skill. Maybe?

That’s it from me this week. I’ll try to get at least one good writing day in next week, and maybe I’ll have something more productive for my next update.

There isn’t really a lot to report on lately. I usually have a few errands during the week. They don’t amount to much but get me out for some fresh air and human contact.

I take my walks but usually those are in the dark now. Heard the screech owls calling the other morning. They used to line up on my fence and make their strange noises, but left my area a couple years ago. I assume some old trees fell or were removed and disrupted where they hang out. Nice to know they’re still around.

I watched the lunar eclipse and that was pretty cool. My area had some high clouds to I had to be patient for it to peek out. I snapped a photo, but an iPhone gets confused about bright spot on a black background. My old 35mm camera could have done it, but my photos aren’t worth sharing. Even got a look at a pretty shooting star while I was out.

I managed a couple of writing days so I can at least claim some minor progress on that front.​

Frankie got another new toy. She is the one who eats everything if we don’t watch her, but there are a whole sequence of woven toys that are great for her. This one is made from flat nylon straps and is woven to look like a carrot. She is a very happy girl this week, and it is safe for her.​

I got my next Story Empire post scheduled for September. It is probably better suited to October because it is about writing horror. That was the idea I had so I did it anyway.​

That’s about it from Idaho. Just ticking along and doing whatever appeals to me in the moment.

I had three different appointments this week. Two were medical and one involved lunch with an old friend.

Medical earned me a new permanent medicine that doesn’t thrill me. I guess we all start building those up eventually. It involved a new test the doctor said they give everyone every visit. I suspect my work insurance would not cover it, but my retired insurance does. Here we are. This is the first time they’ve ever conducted this test on me in ten years of seeing the specialist.

I also elected to try the injection for my trigger finger. $45 for my part vs a surgery. This thing made the pain go away almost immediately. The locking joint is more of a sticky joint now, but I still can’t close that finger completely. I was also told that it could take up to six weeks to see the full effect.

I can type without pain. My hand is not perfect, but is functional again. I’m thrilled so far.

Weeks like this don’t provide a ton of extra time. Everything in the Treasure Valley is twenty miles from here and we live in unprecedented levels of traffic and permanent construction cycles. I try to be early for everything, because I can’t predict when I am going to get caught in these obstacles.

Having said all that, I did manage to write new words two different times this week. Neither session provided a lot, but it feels like an accomplishment. These are the first new words all summer. I have hopes to do more in the coming week.

I admitted back when Mom showed up for her visit that I was not going to finish the next Hat story by Halloween. I’m not going to pressure myself over it now. This is how I came to add words to my long suffering Space Opera. They get done when they get done, and that is where the Muse pointed me.

Looking forward to a week without appointments and possibly some new words.

How are all of you doing?

Yeah. I swear I got more accomplished when I held down a full time job. I didn’t have any specific schedule, just expected one day this week to get new words down.

Every day just seemed to have something come up and I decided not to let it bother me. By doing all the things, Friday was wide open.

I did routine things before the sun even came up. Watered the garden, checked the cucumber availability. Watched the news. It all started when I opened my game.

My daughter called before I could even finish my game chores. We didn’t talk about anything very specific. I just like getting some of her time. Two hours later, I returned to my game.

That was when my wife called and needed me to make a pharmacy run. I was busy being a slob, so I had to clean up before driving to town.

After all that was checked off, I returned to the last bit of game chores. When I finished, she came through the door all finished at work.

That was how the week ended. Obligatory things, but not any productive effort.

I know in my heart that nobody is losing sleep over my next publication, but it gives me a different sense of accomplishment. This is something I need to keep doing for myself if nothing else.

There is always another week, so maybe next week I can get back into the swing of things.

I got to talk with my daughter, and that is my big event for the week. I hope all of you are doing well. Drop me a comment or two.

I forced myself to just do some calm things for a week after my care giving month. I watched a couple of movies, played my game, listened to music. Those kinds of things.

I started three different series that I am enjoying and they are all very different. Maybe they hit different centers of my brain. Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is fun in a familiar kind of way. The characters are all the same, but this is not Big Bang Theory. It makes me happy to know that prequels, sequels, reboots, and all that aren’t the only options the television and film industry has. While I would like to see something completely new, this is creative and I’m having fun with it.

Spider Noir is another one that fits that vibe. The familiarity is there, but this isn’t that tired old path of recasting and telling another origin story. They actually dribbled in backstory to let us know what happened. How shocking. All the noir tropes are there and what I have seen so far is fun.

Then I am working through something called The Potato Lab. This is a Korean show, and is over the top cutesy. I was interested because the setting isn’t another police precinct, hospital, or fire barn. Real people work in a tremendous amount of jobs, and they don’t all have to be authors, reporters, or ex Navy Seals. The trick is to make their skill set peripherally useful to our characters. Potato Lab didn’t quite give me that, but it is so campy I’m going to watch the rest anyway.

Spent some more time making AI art because I enjoy it. I am treating them like Far Side panels now and trying to make jokes out of them. Might not be your thing, but some of them crack me up.

We had a nice date night last night at The Outback. It was good for both of us to just get out and, well I guess I can’t say get fresh air.

The Boise area had the worst Air Quality Index rating in North America for two days in a row. I took a couple of sunrise photos with the idea of sharing them here. You couldn’t even see the trees across the street clearly and the smoke was visible moving between the houses. iPhones being what they are it corrected everything and they aren’t worth sharing. I probably should have taken one of the blood red sunsets instead.

This is still lingering. We’re all blowing noses and coughing. Even the dog is phlegmy. It will change, eventually.

Today I cracked open my space opera and read through the entire second volume. I really do intend to start writing again sometime next week, but I’m not rushing either.

On the list of good intentions, I am also going to start walking again. Sunrise will still be smoky, but it won’t be over 100 degrees yet. I haven’t walked the entire time Mom was here. She couldn’t go with me, but also would not stay put if I tried. No more excuses. I need to do this for my own health.

I also intend to get around to listening to that new Rolling Stones album. I was pretty excited for it and now that my time is my own again, I am going to do that, too. Probably download the tracks I like.

Onward and upward. Stay cool, hydrated, and I hope you aren’t getting all this smoke.

I really expected my brother to arrive on Wednesday, but that wasn’t the case. My assumption was based on the end of Mom’s medications. I had exactly enough for Thursday and no more.

Keep in mind that her doctors are all in Utah, and her pharmacist is in Nevada. I also don’t know who any of them are. My brother didn’t show up until Friday.

We still had a nice visit, but I was about on my last nerve. We had one day of her sneaking her meds twice before I put them under lock and key. A total of twelve escape attempts. And an endless stream of her expecting someone to come pick her up. She then drifted into a loop of driving herself home, then getting angry because her car was in Utah, not Idaho.

She managed to call her 90 year old brother and ask if he was almost here. I had to explain that he isn’t coming and doesn’t even know where I live.

She had a different loop about going somewhere and buying lunch. This usually started when she was still chewing breakfast. I did take her a couple of times, but we can’t afford to do that every day.

The hardest part was when she started looping into asking where we were. I answered, but followed up once to ask if she knew who I was. She said yes, but I didn’t push to have her tell me.

She tends to keep irregular hours, too. Bedtime is anywhere from 4:30 to 7:00. One night she went to bed, then got up an hour later ready to start her day. We were both still up, but it wasn’t morning. She rustled around for hours and I stayed up. Using a rug to block the door helps slow her down and it makes some noise during an escape attempt. I griped to Copilot, because my wife had to go to sleep to pull her early hospital shift. Copilot suggested that hanging a sheet over the door just makes it disappear for dementia patients. I can’t do that, so he suggested a chair. Sure enough, putting a chair in front of the door ended the whole breakout thing for her. I didn’t even have to sleep on the couch all night.

Yesterday was awful. She kept running to the car and trying to get in while we were carrying out luggage. We explained that it wasn’t time to leave yet. My brother wanted a cup of coffee, etc. She freaked out when he went to the bathroom because he was out of sight for twenty seconds.

Weird emotions as I waved at them driving away. At her age it might be the last time I ever see her. She certainly is aging fast.

It’s been a long month, and I’ve been a shitty friend. I tried to browse blogs when I had the chance and always managed to at least tweet them out for everyone. As far as interacting, there really wasn’t much of that.

I’ll try to do better now that I have time when I don’t have to be a watchdog and even search and rescue service.

Somewhere this coming week I want to look at my ongoing manuscripts. I’d like to dabble a bit in my fiction. We have another big event ahead of us that will require about six weeks of my time, but we don’t have a timetable yet.

Aside from that one, I have a couple of medical things to take care of in early August.

2026 is not going to go down as one of my favorite years.

This guy flying right over my roof at six o’clock in the morning. Those burners are loud, too.

Still doing elder care. We’re up to eleven escape attempts and I’m about on my last nerve.

Just learned there is another six weeks of something coming up. Any 2026 writing might be over. I’ll try to check in later.

Survived my first week as an elder caretaker. Mom does weird things, like I learned not to give her any access to her meds. She pulled her sheets and brought them down, because she thought she was going home.

The other day she tried to pack her suitcase and bring it down, but I intercepted while it was still on the landing. This usually proceeds asking where my brother is, then when he is picking her up. We go through that Q/A about ten times per day.

Today, we had a wandering episode. She announced she was going for a walk. She has no idea where she is, or where any of the streets lead. This required me to hit the door running, and I had to wear house slippers.

I walked with her, then she decided she wanted to go around the block. Explaining that our block is about a mile in circumference didn’t help. She made it to a cul-de-sac, then we had to cut through the Greenbelt to gat back home. The sprinklers were on, so we had to walk through the sprinklers.

The upside is that this allowed me to talk her into a bath and some clean clothes.

In other news, I am being a shitty friend. I am trying to hit all of your blogs, but honestly, I manage a like and a tweet before I’m called away.

Time is up already. I’m still around, but all of July is going to be just like this.