We had an old fire ring that we’d almost forgotten about because it had been overrun by several years worth of weeds and brush on the edge of our woods. After FarmerMan cleared away the dead weeds and brush, he rescued the fire ring, the few stones that hadn’t been repurposed for other projects, and the concrete benches that had surrounded the fire pit for the past ten years.
We walked around our property while we discussed the best site for our “new” fire pit. After we considered several spots, we decided on a location in the backyard that was relatively flat; we also decided that our folding camping chairs would be more comfortable than the concrete benches and would make mowing around the fire pit easier. We relocated our concrete benches to be near near the chicken coop, so we would have somewhere to sit while we watched the chickens and their latest antics.
We had a beautiful Bottlebrush tree next to our driveway. In case you’ve never seen a Bottlebrush tree, this is an example of its flowers from the University of Florida Extension Service.
The Bottlebrush attracts hummingbirds and butterflies and has bright red flower spikes that are reminiscient of a bottle washer. The Bottlebrush plant is frequently sold as a shrub, but it can grow as a tree up to 25 feet in height. Our tree was probably only 15 or so feet tall, but it was beautiful.
Our weeklong hard freeze this past winter took its toll on our beautiful Bottlebrush tree. In a last ditch effort to revive our tree, FarmerMan severely cut back the branches in the hopes there was still life in its roots…
…and there was.
In January 2023, I made a career shift as an author and a publisher and moved all of my e-books from being exclusive with a single US/UK-concentrated retail distributor to the additional top four retail distributors, and dozens more smaller distributors, that are now delivering my e-books world-wide. I expected a drop in royalties because the single retail distributor sales were based on the readers purchasing an annual subscription to read “free” books. Authors were paid royalties of a fraction of a penny for each page read.
While my gross income dropped, my net income has dipped only slightly because my marketing costs have drastically dropped; because more people (including libraries!) are willing to buy a book they want to read, more of my stories are flying off the pages and being read world-wide!
Would you like to pick a book to read? Tap HERE to pick one out! (With the magic of invisible electrons, when you select a book, the webs will deliver your book to your favorite ebook reader.)
You keep reading; I’ll keep writing!
