Dove - Cat wars continue

    For those of you who know me, you know I've been laughing at the antics of a pair of doves and my 2 cats. For some reason these 2 doves love to tease and torment my cats. Both Loki and Baby are indoor cats. There are plenty of outdoor cats outside, but these doves just love to freak my cats out!
    They sit above a window and coo. When one of the cats comes to investigate one or the other will suddenly flutter at the window chee chee cheeing, freaking them out. (and sometimes startle me too!)
    They chase the cats from window to window, door to door, front and back all over my house. Sometimes they do this all day long. They even attack the security doors we have. They will also land and come to dad's sliding glass door to see if the cats are there. If they don't show they will sometimes peck at a window and coo.
   Last week one flew in to land on the tether pole. Then hopped to the swing set, then to the railing around the pool and then creeped, cocking it's head this way. And then carefully the bird crab walked, all the way around to the gate to see if one of the cats was going to come to the window. I wish I'd thought to get my camera at that time, but I was laughing too hard to breathe at the time.
      After getting home from our weekly grocery shopping this morning, we were watching Muscle Car when the birds started up again. Loki had been in my lap at the time. This time I had my phone on me and took these photos.
    They started by fluttering at the windows to get the cat's attention. Then they stopped to sit on the sign hanging in front of the window and peer in.

 

One of the birds has a thing for dad's ferns. He's not thrilled about subletting them out, obviously. lol

In the background you can see one of the birds watching from the railing I mentioned.

I think he's patiently waiting for Loki to get drossy before he flutters at the window. It didn't happen, I opened the door to get a better image and they both left.

And that's just the doves. Don't get me started on the hawk or other birds!

 

 

I think I'm jealous. This is what I look down on as I'm working here on my PC.

 

In other news, I've made some small progress on the Gustav. I'm mixing it up, using some of the stuff that came with the model along with my own ideas. (Cherry picker instead of the elevator for one) I'm looking forward to doing an image or 3 with it when all of it is finished.

 

I'm still pecking at Jethro 2 and the short stories. I did a bit with "The Last Round up", "A Matter of Breeding", and "Barkeep" earlier in the week. I've also been researching a few other things for Jethro 2 that will impact future books.

 

Brandon is still working on Plague Planet, and Mechmaster has made some progress with Princess Rescue... and he's posted an update of his comic! If you ever wondered what Dalek heaven would be like, go check it out.

http://www.mechmaster.co.uk/cg-lair/daleks_page1.htm

 

Now, if I can keep my darling pain in the rump sister from getting me to look up arcane ancient TV movies I might get more done! :) (BTW, has anyone seen Stranded with Loni Anderson on DVD? Or Poison Ivy with Michael J Fox? Or Brat Patrol? Or Thunder run? Or... You ruined me life? ...ugh, forget about it...)

Zoids

Well, I can still hear, so all is sorta good.
Let me explain. My sister's in-laws went away on vacation and I was "volunteered" to clean an office while they were away. Unfortunately someone gave me the wrong disarm code, (insert cursing here) and I set the alarm off... twice. My ears rang for days, despite me sticking my finger in to wring them out. My hearing is finally returning to normal... or what passes for normal for me. (admittedly, not much, I am a certified goofball)
The disarm and arm code are almost the same freaking code. Arm works fine. Disarm doesn't. Go figure. It all comes down to the one button. What the.... GRRRRR.
The fun thing is hitting the button... and seeing it blink thoughtfully.... and me going... um... is it... bbbbbbbbeeeeeBBBBBEEEEEEEE.... Ah crap! That hesitation... ugh. They gave me a new code, (which worked yesterday, thankfully) but I had an anxiety attack yesterday using it. That brief hesitation as it thinks it over...as you hit the last button... heart hammering in my chest, hands going to my ears... and then beep, off. I thought I was going to pass out. I swear it was toying with me! lol

The good news is that they are landing in 2 hours and I am off the hook cleaning! Yeah whooo!

Writing progress report:
I'm still pecking away at Jethro 2, but not much, I've been free writing too. I've added a new wrinkle which is going to make life interesting for Jethro. The book has a shifting viewpoint, Jethro is the main protagonist in the book but you also get to see how some of the other people around him are doing and see where some of the short stories tie in. :)
I've been stuck on the wrinkle and how it effects Jethro mentally and physically. Also, how others around him react to it.
I've also been researching an event but I'm not having much luck on finding what I want. I just need a criteria framework on military preparedness exercises. (How they grade a crew, certainly it's not just how fast they get it done right?)
I've also been catching myself skipping to the climactic um... crap. Spoiler. Never mind.... Neeeever Miiind. (sing song)

PRI (Princess Rescue Inc) has been Delta proofed, but I sent it to Mechmaster for a quick peek. He came back and said to hang on, he found some errors in the prologue so he'll take a stab at it. Most of them are word choice or punctuation related, something me and the 4 guys helping me tend to overlook. Since I'm tired of the proofing complaints, (they are my fault) I'm doing something about it. So, I'm pushing back the release of the book. Sorry, I doubt it will be this month or next. The good news is Mechmaster said he'd table AD (Afraid of the Dark) in order to get it done. It will hopefully be easier than AD which I wrote with all sorts of past tense errors and the Greek Chorus haven't had a go at. Maybe I'll as Mechmaster to pass it back to me and let them have a go at it? Clean up the dumb mistakes? Hmmmmm...

Plague Planet (PP) has been passed on to Gamma proofing. I think everyone's a little disappointed in the lack of space battles. It's a soap opera. That will definitely change in Jethro 2 First to Fight and Pirate's Bane, so please be patient. There is, as I said, a method to the madness.

Let's see, what else... um, Oh, Nohar has been successfully proofed by my Greek Chorus, and I'm sitting on it now. Since both Alpha and Beta proofers have finished with PP, I passed "Special Delivery" another short story on to Gord and Jacob. Both seemed amused by it.

I've been looking into various copy editing methods, and I downloaded some text to speech writers in order to try them. I had one in Zabaware's Ultrahal. (Wait, don't go there, the site has a virus! A virus I tell you! ssss.. sorry, I tried to warn you!) I caught a nasty virus there, and then again at the Phoenix college site trying to login for my sister. That took some time to clean out, but both apparently didn't do damage.
The Text to Speech thing is cool, but I need a full version, listening to the artificial "Anne" voice and highlighting a paragraph at a time is ugh. Forget it.
There is supposed to be an extension plugin for Open Office. I downloaded it, but there is no install directions and no install EXE. I'm clueless apparently. (insert laugh track for those who know better here)

Since I need to re-install Inspire 3D to get the import function to work properly in order to import the Jethro obj file (it's is corrupted) so I can work on his new suit, (It's for the cover to First to Fight and other things) I shoved it to the back burner. Instead I tinkered with hexagonal digicam and my zoids again.

I redressed my last Blade Liger beauty shot for this scene. I wanted the Rev raptor in the foreground to be impaled. You can't really see it very well though.

Here you can see a better view of the hex digicam. I fixed it. The above shot was messed up. The props and stuff are from my library with the exception of the C4D people. (except the pilots) and the forklift belongs to um...Archangel studios.

I wanted a cherry picker and other things, but I didn't find any on the web and I'm too lazy to make them now. Maybe later. BTW the civilians are civilian contractors working for the manufacturer. I keep thinking someone lost the keys and everyone's standing around hoping they will find them soon. :D

 

The hex digicam is a dumbed down version of something I saw at CGhub. I think the character wearing it (uniform) was for a game but I'm suffering a brain fart so I'm not sure. (Pizza will do that)

 

I also want to congratulate Kam on his team's win last night. Good job twerp! Finally broke the losing streak! Hell of a way to pitch a game! You're getting there kid, keep your chin up. :)

Tense and Synonyms are my kryptonite

I've finally got something to report, Gord has finished with Plague Planet and sent it to me this morning. I've corrected the mistakes he pointed out and I've sent it on to Jacob for Beta proofing. :)
I'm a bit pleased that Gord didn't find as many errors as he did in Ghost Station (there were hundreds there) but it seems has/have/had are/were and is/was are still sticking points. As are buy/by and their/there for some reason. I guess I should have (ha! I caught the 'of' before it fully slipped out! See? I am learning!) um... oh yeah, I should have taken more than 3 days to go over it before sending it off I suppose. :P

He did tweak me about my questionable sense of humor. (Yup, still got it.)

Come to think of it, I think Jacob has the short story, 'Nohar' too. lol I may have swamped him.

April 1st (April fools) I took the family out to John's Incredible pizza for lunch. I have wanted to do that for 3 years. If you haven't tried it yet, you don't know what you are missing. Think of an all you can eat pizza/Italian food buffet and an indoor carnival all in one.
Each dining room is a different theme. The log cabin dining room I selected was awesome. Everyone had a great time, even though my niece and youngest nephew blew through the arcade money I gave them in under 15 minutes. lol
My 81 year old grandmother ate more food than they did, she stuffed herself... and after we left she said next time she wants her own arcade card so she can play the games and ride the rides too! Just thinking of her playing the arcade games boggles the mind. ROFL

I'm going to have to do it May, just to hear her giggle like a kid while she plays a shooter game. lol

In other news, Mechmaster told me yesterday that he hasn't made much progress with AD (Afraid of the Dark) he's gotten midway through chapter 35 or 36. (I'm not sure which).

Thomas is up to his ears in his 6 year old son's birthday today (happy birthday squirt!) and I wish him luck. (He's going to need it!) He did report he's up to chapter 11 in PRI (Princess Rescue Inc) as soon as he gets it back to me and I make any changes he recommends I'll publish it... If I can.

My copy of Word has locked me out. Yup, 2007 bit the dust. Apparently Microsoft put in a number of installs limit in the software. I did that, I've had a lot or reformats in the past 3 years.... . If you go over the number, tough, go buy it over again. And oh, by the way the new copy is now only good for 1 year, then it too shuts off on you. And they wonder why I prefer Open Office. Grrr

Sooo, in order to publish on Amazon, I have to either borrow my sister's laptop, or bite the bullet and go buy the blasted software again. Grrr. So much for being a cheapskate!

I've been pecking at Jethro 2, First to fight. It's changing and evolving as I go, it's an interesting process to see I suppose. There are all sorts of things woven into it now, references to the main story line as well as to the short stories. I've finished the first 4 chapters and the prologue but I stalled on the first major event at the beginning of chapter 5. That will have some implications later so I have to be careful in skipping it in order to work on other scenes after it. Still it's up to 120 pages so it's getting there. You may find some Dr. Pol references in there somewhere. When I get past HOTS I'll do some research and then dive back into Jethro. :)

I am also 2/3rds finished with HOTS. Not bad. I like the primal Zerg, but I'm annoyed at all the retcons. I do like the shout outs to Broodwar this go around though. The strategy guide makes the boss battles stupid easy. lol

I want to do some 3D modeling after I beat HOTS. I'm debating on Jethro's suit or finishing my blade liger. I did model a suit for Jethro a year or so ago, but I decided it's too slim, I think he needs something bulkier for the armor. I've had something in mind for a while, now I need to make it. :)
But here is the sculpt I did. and yes, I know he's missing eyes, tongue, whiskers, helmet, and teeth. I didn't bother sculpting them, I prefer to add them in Cinema 4D.

Think of the above as his Marine issue space suit. :)