This week I produced drafts of these poems:
- At the bottom of the drawer
- This is What It’s Like
- Rondeau of the Tone-Deaf
- Getting Along Without You
- Empty Words
- The Bad Daughter Walk
- First Kiss
For those of you who have read my weekly updates about NaPoWriMo this year, all I will say is another crap week.
Two days left. Then my company will be gone, too. That’s when I collapse.
The other day the gardener had a bit of a scare. He found a pile of sawdust under a dead tree and an oleander bush. The sawdust had not been there two days before.
Looking up, he saw more sawdust.
The immediate thought was termites, of course. The tree is very close to the house, and termites are a common menace in Arizona.
While the gardener was calling the pest guy, I saw another menace acting crazy near me. It was a BIG bee acting like it was mating with another bee–or was it dying? I didn’t want to get too close.
It turns out that this bee is a male carpenter bee. Males can be gold or black, while females are black. It is their mating season, and guess what they do in mating season? Bore into dead wood and oleanders and create sawdust. I didn’t need to worry about this guy; the males have no stingers!
I’ll leave you with a little Perry relaxation.
He loves to climb onto of me and rub his face all over mine and then turn around and curl up in my arms! He also licks as much as a dog (unfortunately). Here he is as Vlad!
And here he is watching his daddy’s garden inhabitants.
Great story – much relief
It is that time of year when love is in the air. 💕 And speaking of love, boy that Perry sure looks lovable!
Oh, that sawdust would have worried me, too. Thank heavens it’s just a little bee. 🙂
You take care and have a LOT of rest after all the effort. x
Congrats on completing the challenge! I had carpenter bees at my last house. They drilled perfect circle holes in my decking. Not a lot, just one. I was fascinated by them. After they mate, they are gone. I never bothered them and they never bothered me. Now termites are awful!
I’m behind. Glad I’m not doing a month of poetry as I also was and had company most of this month. Don’t know how you managed. When my family left after 2 weeks, I collapsed for a day then started the putting things back in order shuffle. I do not envy you one bit. Be VERY proud of yourself for completing this along with everything else you had on your plate. I didn’t know about those bees. I lived mostly up in the mountains of Arizona so maybe we didn’t have them there. Glad it wasn’t termites.
It’s hard to believe a bee could be so destructive. We had an issue with termites in our garage…they are so gross!
Congratulations on four weeks.
I’m glad you didn’t have to worry about termites. We had them–watched them swarm in the house one day years ago. It was like a horror movie. Fortunately, we didn’t have damage, but we still had to get the house treated.
Perry is very cute. 🙂
So glad you don’t have termites! My husband has taken up macro-photography. He would have loved to have gotten up close and personal with the carpenter bees 😉 Pat yourself on the back that you managed to produce all these poems and once your company is gone, you can turn your attention back to your writing (but get some rest first). I’m hoping you’ll share “The Bad Daughter Walk” with your readers 😉 Perry is a gift! Such a handsome boy 🙂
I recall my early days of gardening some 25 years ago. I was out weeding the garden immediately behind the garage. I was low to the ground, but could hear a faint buzzing from up above. Sure enough, carpenter bees were nesting in the eaves of the building. It’s interesting to know they come in black and gold!
Speaking of golden, hope your days soon take a turn for the better.
You have been amazingly busy! Good for you!
Perry upside down looks just like my Orlando when he’s blissed out – it always makes me laugh they are so very, very adorable! This is why we forgive them the naughty things 🙂 I don’t think we have carpenter bees or termites here – if we do I’ve never come across them. There are ants and they can get into houses and be impossible to get rid of without drastic action. I’m not into killing wildlife in any of its forms any more, but have exceptions for ants in houses and slugs – anywhere! You did exceptionally well to keep on writing despite all that was going on this month. Look after yourself now xo
You are awfully productive despite the visitors and other general busyness. I’ll sign up for a making the most of your writing time if you give it.
Congratulations on four weeks of work! You made it 😉
Thank you for the Perry relaxation — awww!
And Congratulations!
How you managed all those drafts and company, too…?!! You’re amazing.
Glad it wasn’t termites!
Your Perry is adorable! I’m so glad you hadn’t got termites though those carpenter bees look as though they can make a lot of mess!
Congratulations on getting successfully through napowrimo with added visitors!
I’m excited to hear you made it through with a poem for each day despite your logistical setbacks. Kudos, Luanne! And, as always, you’ve inspired me, and I finished up today with a “gesture poem,” (?) I guess, kind of like a concrete or shape poem, which was a fun adventure and took me into a different space. It’s fun to feel distantly connected during this month, knowing you were doing NaPoWriMo *and* I was doing NaPoWriMo too. 🙂 Looking forward to hearing more about your poetry progress on these April-seeds in future posts! 🙂
… and we had pests this week too! It’s a pest-themed week. Ours were a suspected nest of yellow-jacket wasps inside the tippy-top roof-point of our attic. We’re having experts in to take a look on Thursday. :/
Good luck recovering from your houseguests! 🙂
Wonderful, Luanne! A month of Nano! Now you can rest for a while and recharge. Who knows what inspiration “lurks” when you take a breather. 🙂 🙂
Wow, that is a lot of sawdust! How nice to get to see your family and others for the past eleven months! I’m sure you need some time to yourself. Still, you managed to do some writing. Great!