BYC Member Interview - Blooie

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Blooie, when does your novel come out?
 
Thank you, BantamFan4Life. I enjoy reading your posts!

Diva, I dunno when it will be ready for it's reading audience of 4. I have, according to my outline, 3 chapters left to finish. Then I'll need to proof-read, re-read, and then take the big scary chance of submitting it. I have an ace in the hole, though.

A few years ago I was reading a novel by one of my favorite authors, and I wasn't very far into the book when I slammed it shut and tossed it across the room. Good thing it was paper book and not on my iPad, because I really let that thing fly. Nothing aggravates me more than when the author takes all the time in the world to acknowledge that most of the events in the book are true....especially when she is praised to the sky about her historical accuracy and talks about that herself in the acknowledgement section of the book.

In this particular book, set in Scotland in the 1200s, our intrepid heroine is love with the stable boy, but she has just learned that her father has signed a marriage contract with a man she doesn't even know. So far so good. But then she writes a note and asks her maid to deliver it to the stable boy. She asks the maid if she can hurry with the delivery and wait for an answer. The maid replies (and these words are burned into my brain), "I shall be as swift as a hummingbird's wings, m'lady." BANG - down went the book! First of all, the chances of a young lady in Scotland in 1200 knowing how to read and write were slim to nil - and the chances of the stableboy being able to read her message and respond were even less. Okay, I could overlook that if it added to the story and if the author hadn't patted herself on the back for her historical accuracy. BUT hummingbirds are only found in North, South, and Central America and Mexico.
They don't exist in Scotland or any of Europe for that matter. How the heck would an uneducated maid in the isolated northern isles of Scotland know what a hummingbird was, let alone know how fast the wings beat? Well, I stewed about it for days, then finally sent an email to the author of that book. She was stunned! Seriously? She didn't think of the reading and writing and the chances of a hummingbird being in Scotland? Her proof readers didn't? Her editors didn't? Sheesh.

Well, that started an email friendship and her encouragement has been invaluable. So I plan on taking her up on her offer to read my book when it's done. We'll see!
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sumi said:
Diane, known to BYC members as Blooie, has been a member of our community since February 2014. Another of our wonderful all-rounders, she is known for her warmth, her wonderful articles, stories and photos. [COLOR=333333][COLOR=222222]1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.[/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Greetings, fellow Poultry Promoters! I'm Diane. We have been retired from the Navy for over 20 years and live in a beat up old mobile home Northern Wyoming, about an hour and half from Yellowstone Park. It's no palace, but this little place has been in Ken's family for over 50 years. There's not much to me - just an old lady loving life and all it has to offer. I met this handsome sailor and 6 days later I had my diamond. We've been married almost 48 years (one anniversary every 4 years, married on Leap Year Day). I was just 17 when I said, "I do, and I'm packed." in front of a church full of family and friends and we spent the next 26 years living all over, raising our three kids and proudly serving our country. My family is my all. The Good Lord made me a grandmother twice over when I was just 38 years old and I wondered what He was thinking...but after we ended up raising two of our 6 grandkids I knew He was smarter than me. They were our middle daughter's children. Unfortunately the mental illness she suffers from meant that she loved them but just couldn't be a mom. The two grandkids we raised, Jamie and Little Diane, are both married now. Jamie and his wife have given us 2 amazing great-grandkids. Our son and his wife and their girls live across the street. Their oldest daughter, 9 year old Katie, is my best chicken sitter and is mildly Autistic. Little sister Kendra was born with Spina Bifida, and I marvel every day at her strength. She will be 4 in a couple of weeks. Older daughter Tam is two blocks down with my other chicken sitter, 10 year old Evan. Sadly her oldest son, who was born the same year as Jamie, was killed in a car accident 3 years ago at only 22 years old, 9 months into his marriage. We miss Austin every day.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Welcome to Oleo Acres - the cheaper spread.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]My life long partner in crime, Ken, and me.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]My goodness! Hobbies? Well, when Ken would be deployed for months at a time, I had a choice to make. I could either sit around feeling sorry for myself or I could use every deployment as an opportunity to learn something I didn't know how to do when he left. The days were always busy, but those long hours between the time the kids went to bed and I was finally tired enough to sleep got pretty long and lonely. The library became my best buddy. Through the years I've learned to play guitar, banjo and dabble at piano and mandolin. I knit, crochet, quilt, train and show hunting dogs, my first novel is almost completely written, and I had my oil painting phase somewhere in there. I love photography and am really proud of my hummingbird photos. I also hunt, both high powered rifle and black powder, fish, and camp. One thing I never have tolerance for is people who whine that they are bored. Good grief! With so much to learn, boredom was one affliction I didn't have time to experience. In the very early days of the internet, I hosted a quilt chat room on AOL. I also write a political column for our local newspaper. I'm proud that Senator Mike Enzi has used my columns on the floor of the US Senate during debates, and that 3 of them are entered in the Official Congressional Record. I also served my community on the Planning and Zoning Commission for 2 years and on the Town Council for 4 years. Not bad for a kid who dropped out of high school at 16! I'm addicted to hummingbirds - my yard has been certified as a National Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation and we are blessed to have 4 species as regular summer freeloaders - er - visitors.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] A couple of my hummingbird photos [COLOR=333333][COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR][COLOR=333333] [/COLOR][COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR][COLOR=333333] [/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=333333][COLOR=333333]Two of my smaller quilts. We figured out one time that I've made over 100. I own 6 of them. The rest have been given as gifts.[/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=333333][COLOR=222222]2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?[/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=333333][COLOR=333333]I'm still not sure how that happened. One day last winter oldest daughter Tamrin, Ken and I were driving home from Cody and we passed a farm where they have a lot of goats. Ken loves goats - always has. And as usual when we drove by, he said, "We need to get some goats." I reminded him of all the landscaping and flowers and he just sighed. "I know." Tam laughed, "You've got room for chickens, though." It's a 50 mile drive from Cody to our house. Somehow in that 50 miles it went from a joke, to some "What ifs" to deciding how many we could get and care for. That night I placed our order. Yep, and I've been that disorganized with the whole thing all along. Our first chicks were delivered on February 26th when it was 19 below zero and that began my love/hate relationship with raising chicks. I am so over brooding chicks indoors with a heat lamp. That's why I am now such a strong advocate of brooding them outdoors, even in the cold, with Mama Heating Pad and a cave. They love it, I love it, and they do so much better than heat lamp raised chicks.[/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] How I raised chicks then... How I raise chicks now [COLOR=333333]Between the two of us, we don't have the building skills to stack a straight sandwich, but we managed to put together a pretty cool coop and run. I've been asked what I'd change about it if I could, and the only thing I can think of is that I wish we'd made the coop a little bigger. The run is easily expandable - we've already done that once.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]The original coop and run.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]And the run expanded this summer. [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333][COLOR=222222]3. Which aspect(s) of chicken keeping do you enjoy the most?[/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Without a doubt it's watching my grandkids, Katie, Evan and Kendra, learning right along with me. Katie has written a tri-fold brochure about our chickens and it was fantastic. Evan isn't as crazy about them....he takes excellent care of them when we are out of town and I never have to worry, but Katie is all chicken-keeper! Kendra has a little more difficulty. She's been in her wheelchair since she was 9 months old and wheelchairs and chicken poop don't mix well, especially since chairs for little kids don't have the outer metal wheel to use for self-propelling. She has to push it using the tires. But when the chickens are out in the yard we park her chair on the sidewalk and she absolutely squeals with joy. The fresh eggs and quality meat are big hits with the family, and there's just something about a multi-colored flock of chickens bustling around the green yard that makes me smile. Keeping them healthy is a priority, of course, as it is with all of you. The smiling part makes the working part a little easier to get through.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Enjoying their nightly free time. [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] Katie - all finished with her nightly chores.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Evan and Katie out "herding" chickens.[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Gee, I thought these questions were going to be hard! This one is total no-brainer. Scout. Scout even has his own page and had quite a fan club going. He was the only one of 15 eggs to hatch under a broody, and he was born believing his mission in life was to die. Oh, how he tried. First day on earth and he managed to get out from under Agatha and be unable to get back. I found him totally lifeless, neck and feet fully extended, no breath sounds, eyes closed and so cold to touch. I was just sick. I put him on top of the dog crate we were using as a broody box, went in for a glass of warm water and was going to water candle the other eggs, then deal with his little body. I got about halfway through when I either saw or heard something - I'm still not sure which - that made my heart lurch. I grabbed that chick, stuffed him into my bra, and ran for house yelling at Ken to get the brooder set up. Lo and behold, within 2 hours he was running all over the brooder cheeping, eating and drinking, and shortly thereafter he went back out under mom. Things went great, despite knocking himself out trying to fly into the coop instead of using the ramp, and a few times getting trapped in places he shouldn't have been. Seemed like one of was always yelling, "While you're out there, check on Scout, will you please?" Then we had an unusual weather event. We went from 60 degrees to minus 17 in a period of 26 hours. He managed to get his feet soaking wet at the waterer, and they froze. So in he came again. I had no idea what to do, so first as soon as he'd warmed up, I invented a "hot tub" for him. It was the top of a jar candle, and it worked perfectly. Then I set up my first ever Mama Heating Pad for him as a brooder. After a few weeks of treatments with hot tubs, honey, castor oil, Betadine, and bandages, he was finally ready to go back outside. He thrived, despite his deformed feet, and oh, he was a handsome fella. We lost him on June 4th when he was 8 months old. Culling him was one of the hardest things I've ever faced. He'd fought so many things and come back. But a rooster around here, especially with Kendra, gets one chance. He blew his when he attacked my hand.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Frostbite blisters on his feet the second time he had to come inside for help.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Scout dozing in his hot tub. Warm Epsom salt water.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Snuggled in his pre-warmed spa towel.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Scout showing off in the yard.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]His feet remained deformed, but he sure didn't notice it![/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]5. What was the funniest (chicken related) thing(s) that happened to you in your years as chicken owner?[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]I don't have "years". Last year was our first year with chickens. But again we go back to Scout. Ken and I were out of town, and Katie ( then just over 8) was in charge of the coop. Her mom Jenny called us to tell us that Katie thought Agatha, her favorite Easter Egger, was dead. She was just sitting on the nest with her tail the only thing showing, and there were no signs of life. Katie was frantic. I kind of laughed and explained that I'd suspected Aggie was going broody before we left. Jenny tried to explain delicately to Katie (without going into a lot of birds 'n bees biology) that silly Agatha wanted to hatch some eggs and have some babies. Katie put her hands on her hips and said, "Oh, great, Agatha's gone broody and we don't have a rooster so none of the eggs are fertile!" So much for delicacy! "Well", Katie went on, "If she keeps sitting on that wooden egg all she's gonna get is splinters in her hiney!" Earlier in the year my chickens were producing more eggs than I could keep up with and I had put some overflow cartons in the garage fridge, intending to bring them in as I used up or sold the older ones. I forgot they were out there. Katie didn't. She went out, looked at the dates on the carton, and decided she'd give Agatha a nice family of 9 eggs to hatch and raise. So she brought them in, put them on the counter to warm overnight, and then slipped them under Agatha the next day. When Ken and I finally came home, she was so proud of what she'd done! "Gramma, those eggs said June on them and we still had a rooster back then so they're fertile, right?" Um, they may have been, but they were also almost 4 months old. So I praised her for her quick thinking in giving Agatha some dummy eggs to practice on, ordered some eggs from eBay, and together Katie and I put them under Agatha. Scout was the result.[/COLOR] Katie [COLOR=333333]getting ready to sneak outside with me and put eggs under Agatha.[/COLOR] Out in the coop, Katie catches her first glimpse of a newly hatched Scout. [COLOR=222222]6. Beside chickens, what other pets do you keep?[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]We have a much loved English Setter named Molly, who is nearing 13. She's amazing with the kids, as perfectly behaved as a dog could ever be, and we can have her and the chickens out together and not have one second's worth of worry. When last year's chicks went out into their run for the first time, she got way over-excited and tried to dig her way into the run. She hit the hardware cloth apron, broke and bloodied a toenail, and decided that they weren't worth it. Now she wanders in and out of the coop and run with us, drinks out of the water pan in the yard right alongside the chickens, and when black and white Molly is drinking next to our black and white Brahmas it looks like a case of "who's the mom?" [/COLOR] Molly [COLOR=333333]waiting for me to finish up chores, not even caring about all the chicks behind her.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Molly with one of our Light Brahma chicks.[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]7. Anything you'd like to add?[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Don't encourage me - I'm wordy enough! ;) I have only been part of this community since February of 2014 - as long as I've had chickens. I happened to get very fortunate early on and wound up on Beekissed's forum, The Front Porch Swing. Oh, what an amazing group of people I met there! I don't want to start naming names because this interview isn't big enough to hold them all, but every one of you know who you are! Then I branched out and visited other forums. This place is a hodgepodge of all kinds of people - most with much more experience than I have and a few who are where I was last year. I've had my little patties spanked for being a little too, um, free with my thoughts, but overall I like to think that one day I'll be able to be to give as much help to others as I've taken from here. My goal is to dispense at least 1/10th of the assistance I've received over the past year. Lofty goal - every time I start to think I'm getting somewhere I find myself at the back of the pack again.[/COLOR] https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/261716/blooie [COLOR=333333]See here for more about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews: [/COLOR]https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/905602/introducing-vip-member-interviews/0_30
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Great interview Diane. Nice to meet you and your family.
 
Loved the interview! While we have not 'officially' been introduced, I have seen and read many of your posts while commenting (or lurking) on BYC .. Whenever I see 'Blooie' I know that it is going to be a well thought out, beautifully worded post and if appropriate, very entertaining .. thank you!
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