C.J. Cherryh's Blog, page 85

Now and again you know you need a scene but it won’t come clear…

Often you can just plunge ahead, note that it needs to be there and add it later, on the edit.

This wasn’t one of those.

It took me two WEEKS, but I finally got it.

Very small scene. Most people will never figure why it could give anybody trouble—but brother! Such a pain!

As a rule, the hardest scenes to write are the little ones that ‘direct’ a mood or opinion. This is why most people don’t understand the writerly rule “show, don’t tell.” What it really means is—take the reader on that mental trip: don’t just narrate it…TAKE him there.

The sand filter sorta ‘sploded, I got bit by a spider…it was not my finest hour…

…and I declared I wanted a storebought filter for my b’day, please. I’ve ordered a Matala mechanical filter. It’s got a uv filter I don’t want to use, because having had 3 of them catch fire and damage expensive equipment, I’m not real keen on the use of same. But it’s about like one of those Rubbermaid fliptop storage bins in size with a sequence of gradated internal filter pads that fills the whole box and will do some meaningful filtering. No backflush option. But at least some filters that get way down in grade.

The pond is 5000 gallons, with koi that are getting bigger. You can pretty well double the filtration of a pond with large koi, so this one is behaving like a 10,000 pond that has no fish; and adding a second potent filter for the duration of the summer season will definitely help.

This has not been the usual year. We have never had a problem like this—whether it’s the growing koi, or even some local increase of co2: this season has had some varieties of weed growing like mad in our garden, and we’ve been run ragged trying to keep up with the problems—which have not existed in prior years. Maybe it’s the location of the jet stream. Solar output, during the height of solar max. Or it’s just a local cycle. Whatever it is, we’ve got wild vegetable growth. SHould be bumper crops in the agricultural zones, this year, but man, those octopus-like, ground-covering weeds are driving us crazy.

How did the sand filter splode? Well, I set it all up, and bent over filling it, and I think I got spiderbit under my chin: I was way down in the garbage can thingie I was using, and now have a nasty bite that itches like mad.

And we thought for a moment we had it working, because all the plumbing was going and the pump balance (inflow to filtering speed) was near perfect even without choke valves.

And it was a wrestling match. I got all the oversized (2″ hose) plumbing in and working—and we were perfect—

And then the makeshift gasket failed and dumped a lot of sand into the pond. We yanked the plug. Now I have a pond murky with sand-dust. Elementary engineering mistake: I was fine until the weight of sand and water and the force of the 2000 gph pump exceeded the strength of the walls of the container: they bowed, the gasket failed, and at 94 degrees with 50% humidity out there, plus the spider bite, I was just a little p.o.’ed.

Economic Design flaw. I cannot get a sufficiently large rigid-walled tank that I can also move about without spending too much…so best pack it in during the test phase before we’ve spent too much, and order a filter that’s less efficient in principle, but that can be an asset, with water as dirty as koi can get it. I have this vision of a really efficient sand filter that builds up pressure real fast, and either has to be constantly tended, or that (if a commercial one) blows out its spendy gaskets at the rate of one a week, or that has to be packed with coarse gravel that doesn’t work as well.

Well, if this were easy, we’d make a mint selling the patented design, eh? So I’m going with the Matala design and hoping it tames the algae monster this year and next.

The Launch has been a success…

THank you all so much. You’re such good folk. We have the best readers in the world.

NeXus and ColdFusion are up!

Get them while they’re hot!

  

Yeah…it’s me. Carolyn’s wisely gone to bed, but I really wanted to get these up for you all before the end of the sale. I’m really proud of these books. I get asked if they’re worth it, are they really that different. Duh…would I have gone to all this work otherwise? Seriously…if you think you knew these stories, you’re probably wrong…because they surprised me when I started adding up everything I learned writing ‘NetWalkers and stirring it into the mix! I’d already had to truncate the story, both for Warner’s size limitations for a first novel and (at the time) unusual subject matter, with this new stuff…they’re all at least a third longer and what’s left of the original has all been tweaked. A lot!

I’ve worked VERY hard to make the new seamless with the old, both in style and substance, but if I missed something…please post to the oopsie! page on my site. Anyway…go ye forth and collect free downloads! I’m going to go fall on my nose….

2 new works on Closed Circle, and a discount!

Jane’s Wildcards, which is the ultimate edition of Groundties, completely rewritten, is up.

So is Invitations, which is a Bren story.

There is a 10% discount on both and all our stock until next Friday, the 16th, if you use the code SPOCON10.

A stack of mail over waist high…

I tell you, it’s not so bad when I have labels and boxes that hold together for another mailing…but it’s still hard, and gets postponed and postponed because the post office is a real chore, the lines go on forever, and when I’ve got a stack of boxes over waist high and am trying to maneuver them through the line, plus two or three slippery smaller packages, it’s a real pita.

I have imposed a nothing over 20 lbs limit, and that at least prevents a heart attack carrying the stuff up and downstairs…

But if there’s 5 and 6 20 pound boxes of books, plus little items, that’s a lot of trips.

I like to support the bookstores, but I wish they’d mail these things in early spring, so I don’t have to do this in summer heat.

I’ve decided I’ve got to have another pond filter…my cheapskate Grand Plan.

The algae battle this year, of all the others, is a pain, and a never-ending cycle.

I could get a pre-done sand filter that would serve, maybe, but I’ve worked sand filters before, and they’re cranky: they use a levered valve for operate and backflush, and I recall the effect of a German Shepherd taking a bath in a pool and costing a filter gasket. The gasket for these things is a frail limp rubber device that looks like a wagon wheel, and it’s prone to problems.

Sand filters have their virtues, one of which is they clean relatively easily. I researched it and it turns out the heavy algae load of a koi point tends to make regular filter sand into a brick, with channels in it, and precious little filtering done. The answer is aquarium sand/gravel.

And I THINK I know how to DIY one that doesn’t backflush—you just dip out the sand/gravel and wash it, then reassemble.

The current plan: a flower pot. A big one. Or a garbage can. 3 bulkhead connectors, some elbows, some 1 1/2 inch hose for the inflow, and (for the bottom) a 2-inch hose. So…

Envision a square flowerpot. In the bottom, (a) 3-4 blocks of something to hold up (b)a sheet of eggcrate lighting grid. Atop it (c) a square of coarse filter. Atop that (d) a mass of sand/gravel, 50 lbs of it. Then (e) another square of filter. And (f) the inflow hose from a 2000 gph pump with a valve on the hose so I can adjust the flow.

Now, containing (a) is (1) the drain chamber, which has a 2″ bulkhead connector to a 2″ hose that will send *cleaned* water back to the pond.

Containing (b-f) is chamber (2), which is the filtration. It has no bulkhead nor drainage: it just drains down through (b) and (c) to (1.) Got it?

Containing (e) is chamber (3): this has 2 bulkhead connectors, and the first is the overflow drain, which will let any access of water flow out to the pond unfiltered, if it exceeds a certain level.

Finally, topmost in (3) is (f) the inflow hose from the pump (g).

This way, if the filter clogs and I don’t get to it in time, the thing will not overflow endlessly into the flowerbed, but will drain by the overflow drain back into the pond, until I get there to fix it.

Because it’s gravity-driven, the thing has to sit on the rim of the pond. A bit untidy, but if I find the right flowerpot or can, it’ll be at least ok-looking. And it won’t be there at all except when the algae’s out of control.

I want a square container if I can manage it, because bulkheads (a fancy twosided screw-in plumbing connector, in this instance) which lets you take a pipe through a wall and not have a leak) prefer flat surfaces. They have a flexible gasket, but they screw down tight and want a flat surface, which a square container can give.

Buying a proper pond-capable sand filter would cost about 1300.00 excluding the pump.

This one will come in under 100.00 and probably work as effectively, just not be as neat.

Solar Max is upon us: the sun’s magnetic field about to flip…

flip

We got our rain—which undid everything I’ve done to clear the pond…

A dose of rainwater can really screw the chemical balance.

So…we drain down the pond. I thought the pump might have clogged, but it’s just the crappy hose—-I had great hopes for one of those superlight hoses, but the friction inside and the small diameter is such that water does not come out with force. Don’t bother, unless a half-hearted delivery is ok for your application.

So I work, I write, I run out to check on the pond—fortunately I can see it from my working chair—and to get sweated up. With the luxury of as much iced root beer as I can drink (thank you, Soda Stream!) I can stay cool—it’s nasty out there—but a shower is going to be in order: I think I want to use a stick to transport these clothes to the washing machine. And we’re out of washing soap.

It’s been amazing this year, just real hard to control the algae. But here we go, one more round with it.

Routes, for those of you thinking about coming to Spokane next summer…

From S. California, come up on the back side of the Sierra, through Donner Pass to Winnemucca NV (good stop, with barbecue), then east until you can come up the EAST side of the central mountains of Oregon, through the TriCities to Spokane. We did this to San Diego with a stay in Winnemucca and a real long drive to San Diego, back via San Francisco: we found the back highway down the Sierras, part of the way in Nevada, a less congested route, but this may vary seasonally.

From Dallas—take the route to Amarillo, then to Clayton, then to Raton. Good stop at the Motel 6, then take I-25 north to Buffalo WY, Motel 6; then on to Spokane.

From OKC or Tulsa: head out I-40 to Raton and then the same {Buffalo, then Spokane) , or up to Wichita, then Limon CO, then overnight in Billings, if you like that route better…never done that one but once.

From anywhere in WA west: I-5 to I-90. I-90 runs through Spokane.

From anywhere in Oregon eastside: go up to the TriCities, then to Ritzville, then Spokane via I-90. On the west, you’ve got a choice at Portland: go up I-5 and take the White’s Pass route; or through Seattle to I-90; OR take the scenic route along the Columbia River past Multnomah Falls and cross at the TriCities, then to Ritzville, etc.

St. Louis: get up to I-80, then take it to Cheyenne WY, up to Billings MT then west on I-90.

If you are on this list, you can do it in 2 nights on the road. If you are farther, and traveling solo, it would be cheaper to fly.