Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

1 February

Bud And The Rats: Finding His Place In The World

by Jon Katz

When Bud came to us a few years ago, he was traumatized, sick, and in shock from the abuse he had experienced. He has healed slowly and gradually, and even on the worst days, Bud is eager to go outside and look for some roden or mole to stalk and kill and, when possible, eat.

When he locks into something, he is relentless and undistractable.

He’s a working dog, as all terriers are.

Fate has her sheep, and Zinnia has her therapy work, but until today, we’ve never had a real working mission for Bud.

As you may know, a savvy rat has been assaulting our kitchen, opening cabinets and tearing open boxes. She avoids every trap we set.

Getting desperate, Maria had the idea of letting Bud out of his crate and night and giving him a free run of the house. Boston terriers were bred as rat hunters in the 1800s; Bud seemed to know he was finally getting to work. It was a great idea.

Bud patrols the house in the dark, and every morning, sometimes at 2 p.m., at 4 a.m., and at 5 a.m., we hear some barking downstairs. When the rat appears or approaches the kitchen, Bud waits to run her off. And she runs.

We haven’t seen or heard her or any sign of her since we unleashed Bud. When I come down in the morning, he is positioned by the kitchen door, staring, sniffing, and waiting. We believe his barks and warnings have kept the rat away. Maybe she will go elsewhere, or maybe Bud will set a trap and kill her.

He’s our hero of the moment, along with Zip in the barn. Zip has cleared the barn of rats and pigeons. Bud is having a good time; having this work and purpose has been good for him. So far, so good.

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Books

1 February

Bedlam Book Sales Start Today. Good Books In Great Shape For Less Money

by Jon Katz

A new thing: Starting today, Bedlam Book Sales.

We will offer books we love to blog readers for sale.

We want to make money but also like to give our readers a break. The books – signed if you wish – will be sold to blog readers in the United States for $10 plus $5 shipping. You can buy one by first e-mailing Maria at [email protected].

When we have books to sell – we have a lot – we’ll offer them five at a time, announcing the sales on both blogs. Maria will administer the program and handle the sales and shipping; I would be a disaster. We will post updates on each of our blogs when new books are offered on sale.

But we are doing this together.

If you see a book you want, e-mail her (not me) at [email protected] and say the book you wish to buy and the way you would like to pay – Paypal, Venmo, or by check to our P.O. Box, Maria P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, New York, 12816. All sales are final, with no returns. One or two books have been bookmarked and had a page corner turned down to keep a place.

Once the book is paid for, it will be sent out soon. If you want a book signed by either one of us, ask.

Don’t buy anything without getting the go-ahead from Maria.

Books have always been sacred to me; I haunted libraries when I was young, and when I earned money, I went to bookstores. I love everything about bookstores, and I love all kinds of books. I love mysteries, novels, history books, spiritual books, and books relating to female writers and themes for Maria and me.

As a book writer, I’ve always believed that buying hardcover books is the best way to support other writers.

Maria is as rabid a reader as I am; we both read constantly.

I prefer hardcover books, and I can’t wait for library books to become available when I get the itch.

I get a lot of itches.

So does Maria; we are both eclectic readers; we like and read all kinds of books, take great care of them, and almost all are as good, neat, and clean as new. We’ve been donating books to the local library for years, but it’s a small library, and they can’t handle us anymore. We also love the idea of getting some reimbursement.

It’s also time for me to stop acting like a big shot; having these good-as-new books gather dust for months or years is silly.

If you’re interested in a book, you can look up book reviews online or read Amazon reviews. We only sell books we like and have read if that means anything.

The first batch is an exciting mix. (I’m big on novels and fiction; Maria can speak for herself.

As always, the social media wasps struck immediately, accusing me of ignoring libraries and wasting money on bookstores. Yuk. I know I have a lot of readers who love books, and the books are current and much less expensive than buying them outright. The mind is fascinating; I expect outrage and criticism for anything I do or write. We love this book idea.

I don’t have the time or space to describe the books in detail; people should do their homework and follow their instincts. Mostly, I delete, but the devil in me whispers in my ear to strike back occasionally, which is sometimes satisfying. I buy new books and read them carefully and respectfully. Books are sacred to me.

Glory Be is a terrific new mystery series with a beautiful heroine character named Glory Be, a feisty old Southerner. The Bee Sting is a much-praised (and long) book about a family after Ireland’s recession; Blood Sisters is a chilling story about a Native American Indian Agent fighting to find her missing sister and discover who is kidnapping young women in a reservation.

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Women is a charming story of courageous women in the 1880s who risk everything to help liberate persecuted women; the Secret Life Of John LeCarre lifts the lid on John LeCarre’s personal life, which was just as wild and conspiratorial and devious as his Russian spies, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, the compelling – charming – story about a remarkable Chinese doctor living in 1511.

I’ll be offering new mystery writers, promising new novelists, and, from time to time, some of the spiritual books I have been reading and writing about. Maria has her interests and will describe them on her blog.

Each of these books is $10 plus $5 shipping, a sharp markdown from the cost. We are working to raise money for some expensive repairs to our septic and plumbing system, damaged by the endless rains. We also like selling these new books cheaply to those who support us.

This feels good to us, and since I hear from book readers who follow the blog all the time, this might be good for everyone. I was looking at the bookstocks the other day, and it hit me that there is a lot of money in those stacks, and I am no longer a best-selling author getting big checks from a publisher. Like everyone else, I need to embrace reality and plan.

If you want to buy any of these books, e-mail Maria at maria@fullmoonfiberart. And tell us how you plan on paying. Please don’t buy anything without contacting Maria and ensuring you are the first buyer; we want this to be easy and efficient for both sides.

We’re ready when you are; this is exciting, hopefully fun, and a great use of the many books stacked all over our house. As soon as the books are sold, if they are sold, we’ll offer some new ones. I’m very proud of our list.

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Color and Light

31 January

Color And Light, As Promised, Wednesday, January 31, 2024. Still Hoping For Some Sun

by Jon Katz

“We all share the fear that our need to love and be loved cannot be fulfilled. The fear of being lonely is always there in everyone. We have to recognize that fear and that need within ourselves. The practice is to look deeply into that kind of fear. To love is to offer understanding and comfort. Understanding is the source of love. We would feel miserable if no one understood us. And when someone does not understand us, they cannot love us.” – Thich Nhat Hanh.

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Birds

31 January

The Bird Experiment, 2.0 / Better, I Switched Lenses. A Lot To Learn

by Jon Katz

I continued my photographic bird adventure today, and it was better. I switched to an old 60 mm lens I traded for a month ago, and it has no difficulty shooting through the glass. I had to sit still for an hour to get these photos, but I liked them. They had a soft, broody feel, and the birds had more personality than I expected. I love their faces and their color.

I’m not identifying the birds yet; it is too soon for my Dyslexia. The garden people were kind enough to give me the flower names until I could remember them. The bird people are just as kind, thank you. Sitting still for an hour is good for me; it is calming and necessary for this new kind of photography. Just as I didn’t want to take conventional flower photos, I like to put my stamp on these bird/nature photos.

A unique lens will be coming in the next two weeks; I traded lenses for it, and I’ll make a small profit and be able to experiment with the birds.

I can do this all year, not just around the feeder. I don’t want to get stuck on the feeder; it’s suitable for learning, but I see that the birds have unique colors, faces, and postures. This is an excellent second start, but I have a good way to go. I’ll share the experience so people can see my progress or stumbles.

I was pleased with today; I’m beginning to see what a Jon Katz bird photo might be like. My nature lens is a week or two away.

I’ll try again in a day or so. I did like sitting out there and waiting. I need to learn how to do that. On another gloomy day, Maria is off to her belly dancing class.

(Above a big puffed-up cardinal)

Blue Jay

Another cardinal (or maybe the same one)

Looks like a nuthatch

Woodpecker of one kind or another.

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Bedlam Farm Journal

31 January

Belly Dancing Day. Cold, Quiet And Calm. Bedlam Farm Journal, Wednesday, January 31, 2024

by Jon Katz

It hasn’t rained for two days, which is suitable for the water table, messing up our plumbing and worrying me. This is happening nationwide as the rain has been heavy for the past few months. We’re just taking it one day at a time.

Maria is off to her Belly Dancing Class in Bennington, Vermont. I’m eager tonight to read the new Dennis Lehane novel, Small Mercies, about Boston’s wrenching desegregation struggles in the 1970s. I worked as an editor at the Boston Globe during that awful time; we all had bulletproof windows installed in the newsroom, and the paper was hated for supporting the desegregation orders from a federal judge.

Lehane’s novel “Small Mercies” takes place in the tumultuous months after a 1974 order to integrate the city’s schools through forced busing. I never saw hatred, racism, and class warfare more severe than in Boston, not even when I went to Mississippi as a reporter.

I like Lehane’s writing very much, and I’m eager to see how he portrays that awful period. I’m putting aside the water troubles and the cost, sitting by a fire with some tea and plunging into the book. The book is a mystery, but it says a lot about the country’s twisted history with race.

Ron DeSantis may need to ban it.

Maria and I have been discussing our plans to sell some books on E-Bay to raise money for the anticipated flood, ground, and septic repair in the Spring when the ground thaws. Maria decided to drop the eBay idea and sell some of the books on her blog. I’d link to the sales. Several people suggested this, suggesting I’m an idiot for not thinking of it.

I’m sure they were right, but this is Maria’s program, and my job is supporting it. She’s wicked smart and knows how to do this. I’m not competent in this way.

It’s a good thing to do, water crisis or not. We read many new books, and they are in big piles and all in excellent shape.

We’ve always given these books away, but it would be wise for us to start saving. We can take out a loan if necessary, as many people do with this trouble. It’s time to get them out of the house. It’s not a crisis, as I like to say; it’s just life. We’ll be fine. Blog readers know us, and many of them are passionate book readers. We have a lot of terrific books and they are all in great shape. It’s nice to think of them going to our readers. The house is getting too cluttered anyway. Maria will figure it out; she doesn’t need peckerheads telling her what to do.

I think this is what character is made of – how we handle difficulty, not how we avoid it.

Lulu and Fanny get their feeder now. They are not into sharing.

Zip showing up for the afternoon meeting, he was out hunting all day. Weather means nothing to him. He is always on time for our meetings; today’s lasted about 15 minutes. I love his stare. He is a photographer’s delight.