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Fun Facts About "Big 'N' Hairy Ranch"

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Item one: The story was inspired from a weird out at a real ranch that I went to. Item two: They were playing The Beach Boys. Item three: Not sure where the main character came from. Item four: I had issues with the creepy Christmas lights floating around the place. Item five: I took out some of the structures and added my own, but the gas pump and nasty green marshmallow salad was there, along with the locked pop case in the creepy shed. Item six: Cousin Lucas's appearance was based on a guy who used to live down the street. Item seven: I mentioned covid in passing and chuckled, because lost of magazines made it taboo to mention it. Since I'm flying solo, ha! Item eight: Lorelei's rambling didn't need much editing. Item nine: Men who don't take care of their beards look like Big Foot. Item ten: The part of the dance where everyone was dressed like trashy cowboy and cowgirl was based on a 4th of July dance that I went to and lived to regret. It was in a barn and it ...
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A Special Quote About True Faith

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Faith is not bravado, not just a wish, not just a hope. True faith is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ—confidence and trust in Jesus Christ that leads a person to follow Him. But If Not … By Elder Dennis E. Simmons o f the Seventy April 2004 general conference from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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Making Lovable Female Characters

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Why are so many female characters such garbage? Annoying, selfish, ungrateful--and yet those in their stories seem to love and respect them. "What a woman!" When she pulls apart a gun he needs because she can't handle weapons of cruelty--then she'd better shut her mouth, because witty shouldn't be cruelty. She better not opt for a bow and arrow, either, because those really hurt. "I can respect that" with a stupid grin on his face after she gives a spiel on modern sentiments--which, by the way belong to a small percentage of the population--in a time period where that didn't exist. "That's some woman!" Because she slaps him for saving her stupid life--ingrate, die already. Ever want to work with someone like that? What five-letter word comes to mind instead? Men and women both hate her. How about a complete wretch bringing up old news in a time and place where that issue didn't exist? Or in a time and place where that would have got...
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Come Listen to General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

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I was studying the "Come Follow Me" book from my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and I was brought to Isaiah 53. It's about the sorrows and sins that Jesus Christ bore for us. It said that while I'm reading, to replace "we" and "our" with "I" and "my." So I did, and here is a snippet of what it looked like. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and (I) hid as it were (my) face from him; he was despised, and (I) esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne (my) griefs, and carried (my) sorrows; yet (I) did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for (my) transgressions, he was bruised for (my) iniquities; the chastisement of (my) peace was upon him; and with his stripes (I am) healed. After I read the whole chapter like that, I felt like a worthless punk. How could He love someone so cheap as myself? As soon as I thought it, the clea...
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Thankful for heat, a harbinger of weather

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Heads up, I hate the heat. It doesn't agree with me. Too much of it means fire season and danger of evacuation. Everything wilts and everything gets dusty. When it's cold, it's called a jacket. When it's hot and you have no AC...uh...get naked? I'm not about that life. Having lived in Arizona heat down in Mesa, with nothing but a swamp cooler was like, how am I even alive and lucid today? Okay, maybe not too lucid, BUT... I've realized something. Where I live, heat is a harbinger of weather conditions. People always say the old Natives know about the weather no matter where they live or what sort of climate. My grandpa used to be able to tell the weather and he was always right, unlike the weather station. One day, legit, they thought there wasn't a cloud in Arizona. They said this while a snowstorm was blasting outside my window. For any of you who don't know, Arizona has cold parts with pine trees and mountains. Many think this weather knowledge is los...
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Fun Facts About "Toni's Land"

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Fun facts about "Toni's Land." The story takes place in Whiteriver, Arizona, on the Fort Apache Reservation. At the time that I wrote this story, a meteor actually did fall in Whiteriver. "Toni's Land" is in a trilogy involving "The Cowboy Cabin" and "The Hairy Man." Marlo's make-up is based off of a random girl's make-up I saw at a gas station. I thought the story was hilarious, so imagine my surprise when it was picked up by a horror magazine. The editor of the magazine later unfriended me under mysterious circumstances on both Twitter and Facebook. "Toni's Land" was the only story I wrote that year, and the only story that got published. The name Zena Antoinette Alfonsina Jun was inspired from a bunch of Apaches who named their kids some seriously random names. Zena calls Marlo Mrs. Baylish, using the last name of Marlo's crush. The concept came from my high school years in Alchesay, when girls would call them...
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Fall is coming!

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The other day, I woke up, and noticed a chill in the air. My blood started rushing and the spirit of fall fell heavy on me. The clouds have that fuzzy look, which means they're cold. While it isn't time for sweaters just yet, the nights are whispering of autumn and all of its delights with pumpkins, apple cider, coloring leaves, cooling weather, tons of baking, and fuzzy socks. Come September, we're going to decorate early, and bask in the happy scarecrows and orange wreaths that we made last year. The aroma of pumpkin and apple pies will fill the house. Hunting season is coming and the elk will be whistling out there in the night. This year, we'll go out under the diamond sky and listen, snuggled in warm jackets and snacks at our side. If we're crazy enough, we'll hit the fence with sticks and make them come charging in. How I love the changing weather! It stirs the muse and makes it sing. I'm so thankful to Heavenly Father for autumn.
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