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Are we happy or sad that this year is almost over? In some ways I feel like nothing happened this year and in other ways I feel like I worked my ass off. haha.

It's not quite time to tally up my "accomplishments" for the year but why I do I feel like the last 10 months just slipped by without me noticing?

I actually did put out a fair number of books in 21. I started the year with Bossy Luke (which did great and people loved, thank God because it was the final book in the series.) And then Uncrossed, another last book in series. And I loved how it ended.

Then Sick Heart, which had some hiccups getting released but actually was in the Top 300 on Amazon for almost two months. So who fucking cares about the early drama.

The biggest (and happiest) surprise was Damaged Gods. I'm so, so, SO enjoying the fact that people were in to it. And it was in the Amazon Top 500 for a long time. Over a month. Maybe not quite as long as Sick Heart, but it's not easy to keep a new release on Amazon's radar. And even though people were pissed off about waiting for book two, most were excited about how the book ended and are looking forward to the next part of the story.

I also wrote a sci-fi romance that I haven’t released. I was gonna do that Vella thing, remember? But I have changed my mind. And while I was changing my mind I have also changed the story a bit, so that book won’t release for a while.

But mostly I’ve been working on other things. I can’t stand social media these days. I try to stay away from it as much as possible. And I’ve been just kind of enjoying my little ranch, and my dogs, and donkeys, and my family.

I am not a gardener. I have a black thumb. But I have always wanted a flower garden so last spring I bought a TON of bulbs to plant in the fall. I’m talking, I went all out. Because bulbs, right? You like… plant them and forget about them and every year they’re a sweet surprise in the spring.

The problem is… I don’t really take care of my “front yard” which isn’t really a front yard. The people I bought this place from were in to this shit. Like. In. To. It. And this property is covered in lichen rock. So the whole front yard is fucking ROCKS. Like big rocks, little rocks, standing rocks, river rock, lichen rock. It’s everywhere. Like I’m talking rivers of fucking rocks – which are apparently called French drains, going down every kind of hillside I have. I’ve seriously got a mini Stonehenge going on in front of my porch. Like they actually made formations and shit with these rocks. It’s cool, but it’s a LOT of work.

You wouldn’t think it would be hard to take care of rocks—they’re… rocks. But it’s really hard to take care of rocks because WEEDS grow in between all these stupid rocks. So before I could plant my bulbs I needed to clean all the weeds up, plus remove all the shrubs I’ve killed with my black thumb over the past couple years. So that’s what I’ve been doing for the past month.

My aspens went crazy too. If you didn’t know, Aspens groves are clones. I have about 8 different “groves” on the property around the house and it felt like each one of them decided to be fruitful and multiply this year. I love aspens, but they are hard to grow under 8000 feet and we’re only at 7100 feet. So I worry about them. And when they decide to multiply, you kinda just have to let them spread their limbs. But they sorta took on a life of their own and I did eventually make myself cut a bunch of saplings down. Thank god for the hand-held chainsaw I got on Amazon. Fucking lifesaver.

I now own almost every kind of landscaping equipment known to man. I have one of those backpack leaf blowers, a brush cutter, a weed trimmer, a hedge trimmer, a pole chainsaw, a regular chainsaw, and of course, the hand-held chainsaw. Plus I own a hatchet, four shovels, a pitchfork, a lawnmower, a zero-turn lawnmower, a wheelbarrow, a heavy-duty utility cart, and two rakes. I still need to get two or three different kinds of saws and an ax. BTW – if you ever find yourself in this kind of situation, the HEDGE TRIMMER is the way to go. Trust me. A hedge trimmer is MAGIC when it comes to three-foot-tall weeds.

I know what you’re thinking… hire someone, right? Wrong. No one will travel out to my place to do lawn maintenance. So. Whatever. Chainsaws are fun too. All I need now is a wood chipper and I’m golden. But I think I will wait for spring for that.

But, anyway. It finally looks like someone gives a shit out there and TODAY we are planting bulbs and hanging solar lights around the porch! I will take lots of pictures in the spring. Unless I kill them all, in which case we will never mention this again.

I hope you all have a safe and amazing Halloween. I’m looking forward to winter how about you?

Julie
JA Huss