Why Does it Have to Be Yellow Jackets?

 It's been a fairly quiet August here in the Smith household. The kids are in virtual school, the pandemic is pandemicing, the new kitten has taken over the household and I have been editing Maestra.

I'm around 70% of the way through edits and I have a self imposed deadline of the end of August to complete the project. This was thoroughly derailed this morning by a pest problem.

For the past couple of days, my wife and kids have been hearing a 'mouse' in the walls and ceiling upstairs. You may notice the word 'mouse' in quotation marks. That's because when I heard the sound this morning I decided to investigate. 

On the ceiling of my 4 year old's bedroom I noticed a paint bubble. I poked at it and there is no drywall behind it. There was a tapping sound in the ceiling all around the area. I think, 'wow, the mouse sure likes to chew up drywall.' Then I slap the ceiling to spook the mouse. The result was a chorus of buzzing and the tapping became a clamor. 

Well, that's not good.

I walked outside to get a better view of what was going on around the roof. Sure enough, yellow jackets swarming the roof where they have made a nice little hole through the fascia and gotten into the attic. I hate yellow jackets. Every single summer that we have lived in this house (seven years now) we have had issues with yellow jackets. We had to cut down our pear tree. They nest in our shed, attic (two years ago), lawn, trees, and now in the attic again. 

So, we have the upstairs bedrooms closed, towels under the doors, and everyone is on the first floor. Pest control should arrive in a few hours to hopefully handle the problem with ease. Until then, it's a fun filled day of paranoia. It's also a rare ninety degree late August day here in Michigan, which makes it difficult to keep the kids outside all day long.

In other words, not much editing is getting done today. Fly swatters and flip flops are on standby in case the striped, stinging menaces decided to invade.

Also, pick up the new and improved ebook of The Morbid Fascinations of David Bennett for just $2.99!

https://www.amazon.com/Morbid-Fascinations-David-Bennett-ebook/dp/B07ZG4N2XB

I cleaned up the text and formatting and made a few minor adjustments, overall. FYI, anyone who already owns a Kindle copy of this now has the updated version on their device. Help support the war against yellow jackets with your purchase! Thanks!

Buzzing along for now...

I Did a Thing

Before I began writing Maestra I came up with a concept of an anthology series of very short stories, roughly 3,000 to 5,000 words. It would be Science Fiction themed and all involve stories with lessons built into them from Humanity's first attempt to colonize an alien world. 

While drafting Maestra I didn't do a whole lot with it other than create a bit of an outline. Last weekend, when I finally put the final draft of Maestra to rest I set out to write the first short story in the series before going on a hiatus.

It didn't take me very long to write up a couple of drafts and edit, so here is the first entry!

It is available on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. It is 99 cents to purchase or free through the Kindle Unlimited option if you subscribe to that service. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FBRWQVF

I will eventually put more stories up in the series. 

This story serves as a nice bridge to my next project, which will be a full length science fiction novel, tentatively looking to release in Summer 2021 (if there is still a world by then.)

Now a break for a few days before I begin my edits on Maestra.