Lately, I’ve been feeling like a space cadet, and for the first time in my long career as a newspaperman, author, and blogger, I am having trouble coming up with something to write about.
That never happens to me. I’ve always prided myself on the fact that I can always think of something to write about. In fact, on my Publishing4Profit self-publishing website, I have a page about that very topic, titled Writer’s Block Is A Crock. So what the heck happened?
I think the problem is a new medication I started taking about a week ago. Ever since then, my brain has been foggy, I’ve been having trouble concentrating, and my energy level has been low. Yesterday, I called my doctor at the VA hospital in Tucson and told her what was going on, and she told me to cut the dosage in half. Hopefully that will help, and I can get back to normal. Or at least whatever passes for normal with me.
In yesterday’s blog, titled It’s Not Camping, I wrote about the close confines here at the Las Vegas Thousand Trails preserve. As I said then, we usually prefer roomier campsites, but for here in Las Vegas, it works.
Well, it does except for the pack of yappy little dogs in the motorhome next to us, who are some of the most obnoxious critters ever put on this earth. There are at least three of the noisy little mutts, and they stand on the dashboard barking at anything that moves, day or night.
It’s bad enough when the owners are gone, but even when they are home, all the darned dogs do is bark at everybody who walks or drives by, or at any sound. How can you be inside your RV, listening to your dogs go on like that endlessly, and not make them shut up? We like to leave our windows open for the fresh air, but these noisy dogs make that difficult. I usually try to live and let live, but I’ve about had it. It’s about time to lodge a complaint.
This morning, our friends Bob Parker and Donna Huffer are supposed to stop by for a visit. They helped us with parking at our rally in Yuma in March, and then we saw them at the Verde Valley Thousand Trails campground a couple of weeks ago. Now they are spending some time down at Lake Meade. The fulltime RV community is very much like the people in a small town that interact all of the time. We just do it in different parts of the country, wherever we happen to meet up in our travels.
So there we have it. Over 500 words, and I didn’t have anything to write about when I sat down. But as I wrote in my blog post mentioned above, the cure for writer’s block is to just sit down and write! It works! So I guess I was right after all; writer’s block is a crock! 🙂 I’m just gonna pat myself on the back a couple more times, and then head for bed!
Thought For The Day – Life is short, it’s up to you to make it sweet.
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Nick Russell
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I don’t know if this reply will go through as I am not a subscriber. I have found you through a friend and see that both Good Nick and Bad Nick fill my need for someone to relate. Sorry about the dogs. We live on 6 acres and our new neighbor has a dog that barks at himself all night. We sleep with our windows open also.
We have just bought a 5th wheel and are preparing to sell everything and hit the road. Our maiden voyage is this week to a small state park a few miles away in Lockhart, Texas. Its exciting. I am a vet also and spent some time traveling in Europe., but am also an artist/craftsman who has driven through all but 6 of the 48. Now its time to really see them. Best of luck with your meds. I really enjoy your blog. It makes me smile and know I am not alone in my feelings about some things…dogs. Yuk.
Robert McC
Hi Nick
I would imagine Bad Nick may have a comment or two about annoying dogs in the near future!!
Take care and keep up the great work. We all enjoy your blogs out here in the hinterlands.
Don
If I had a recorder, I would record as much of that non-stop barking as I could — and then at an inappropriate time (nighbor’s bedtime?), I would open a window on their side and play it as loud as it would go. Blame it on Bad Nick.
Like they always say in the seminars,if you don’t like your neighbors you’ve got wheels to move.
I’m guessing it’s easier to be bad Nick than good Nick. It sounds like your neighbors indulge a bit too much in “yappy hour”.
Like they say, there are no bad dogs, only bad owners. These people are obviously bad owners who never discipline or train their dogs. You probably wouldn’t get too far complaining to them. One bad owner when faced with a dog barking complaint said, “what do you want them to do, moo? They’re dogs and they bark!” I guess he doesn’t understand that they bark too much. Or care!
Regarding “writers block”, I clearly recall from my years and years of having to regularly produce monthly, quarterly, and annual progress reports, that the toughest part of writing is application of the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair. As I’ve said before, I have unbounded admiration for your ability to produce 500 words faithfully, day after day after day. Get off the meds and keep up the good work!
I was so glad to read that it may be your medication that was causing the fuzzies. I thought maybe it was my glasses. OH it was I needed to look through the lower portion of the glass.
LRW
Nick, I wrote a post a couple of years back about the same way. Nothing to say, so I quoted your line about “Writer’s block is a crock,” then went on to write about having nothing to write about. It worked, and I got lots of comments!
Sounds like you meds were just to high, if half a dose works why take more. I hate yappy dogs. Complaint is in order, we have one of those yappy dogs and we make sure that he does not bother neighbors. We always ask if we have been gone for a time of our neighbors if they have heard him. They say that as soon as we drive away he is quiet. We have a control collar we use when he does not listen, which is very seldom. No it does not hurt him, it does shock, he learned quickly that if we tell him no bark and he continues, we just have to pick the collar up and he is instantly quiet. Maybe the owners need the collars.
Possible solution (I agree you shouldn’t need this but)
a) Buy a PetSafe OBC-1000
b) Hang on the outside of your motor home pointed at offending dogs
c) Turn on / adjust sensitivity
d) Watch for the results.
e) Remember to retrieve before driving to the next destination
We brought ours along to specifically to remind our dogs NOT to bark when we were not in the RV. Our dogs know when it’s “on” and behave themselves. You are not touching the offending dogs and you are not hurting them… it’s a gentle way to say “quiet!”
Does your VA hospital have Secure Messaging?
I’ve used it at my VA hospital and it works fine. I’ve found the VA doctors always respond quickly by phone or e-mail to my questions.
Had an operation there last year and was very pleased with the care.
Thanks for all your help towards veterans. I would have never known some of the benefits without reading your blog.
Hope you feel better soon, Nick.
Robert reminded me of when I used to live down the street from a strong-willed single woman whose next-door neighbors often let their dogs out into their backyard in the middle of the night. The damn dogs would come up under my friend’s bedroom window and bark, waking her up
Eventually, after barking one time too many and waking my friend, she began phoning the owners of the dogs, waking THEM up to tell them she’d been awakened by their dogs. After she disturbed THEIR sleep a couple of times, they got better about controlling their animals. I thought that was a brilliant solution. It probably won’t work so well in the RV community, but it worked like a charm in the sticks-and-bricks neighborhood.