To say I have an eclectic range of interests would be understating things. Sometimes even I'm surprised by what I get involved with--container shipping, anyone?

One of the things I did that I can't quite believe was that I signed up for a drum making workshop a number of years back.

I did have some attraction to the workshop otherwise I wouldn't have paid to do it, but I didn't think I would become entranced by the process. I did. The hours of the class flew by. I worked with the frame, I put the deer hide around it and fastened it in place with strips.

And it was fun! Oh, so much fun. I'm not a person who does crafts. I don't have the patience for it and the results are never quite good enough, but this drum turned out perfectly!

A friend of mine went to the workshop with me and she said I was intent on my drum. And I was. I would have loved to have taken the workshop over and over and over yet again. But I didn't; I only went once because what am I going to do with lots and lots of drums? Also, I had no desire to get into the business of selling drums, so it didn't make sense to go again.

I've decided my ability to get interested in unusual things is good. As a writer, I have characters and books that require me to research a wide variety of topics. Not all of them are scintillating, but if I can be held rapt by container ships, I know I can make it through almost any topic.

I'm not a big bird person, but I keep getting addicted to these various bird cams around. A couple of years ago, it was Condor Cam at the San Diego zoo. This year, it's been an eagle cam.

It started out innocently enough. One of the guys I work with told me about the eagle cam at Berry College in Rome, GA. It wasn't too long after that when the eaglet was born. This nest didn't have the second egg hatch. There's a note next to the cam that it hadn't been viable. But watching this one little chick (known lovingly as B3) grow up has been so cool.

When he was first born, he was this little pale gray fuzzball. Then his down grew in a little darker and now, at 5 weeks old (I think), he (or she) is starting to get real feathers in.

It didn't take long before I was hearing about other eagle cams, including one in Minnesota run by the Department of Natural Resources that had three eaglets hatch at the end of March/beginning of April. (MN DNR Eagle Cam)

So of course, being Minnesota, it starts snowing on April third when the chicks are all still so little. Mama sat over her babies for 2 days, just enduring the wind, snow, and cold while she kept he eaglets warm.

They're adorable! I watched her feed all three who were centered in the only part of the next not covered with snow. The oval that mama kept warm with her body. I'm scared for the littlest of the eaglets. He's so tiny and his two siblings are bigger and grabbing the food. I'm also worried about his reaction to the cold. He was born just like a day or so before the snow started.

The thing, though, that touched me is how the mother just endured everything for her chicks. She probably would have been less cold if she could move around, but she didn't. She took care of her babies first.

I've seen most of these.

I blogged recently about how I was getting my story information backward for a series I was working on and how I had absolutely nothing for the second book in what I thought was a four book series.

Blogging about it didn't help shake anything loose, but a conversation I had with someone about something completely different did.

My mini epiphany? There weren't four books in the series, only three.

I know, duh, right? It was originally three stories, but when a shift happened in the storyline, I thought I had to do four, but I just never had anything but a blank spot for that hero. He also had no heroine and no story. But I thought I had to do both of the first hero's friends plus the character on the team that was talking to me already. That equaled four.

It was a huge relief to realize that I didn't have to do both buddies. That I could do the second one later once he actually started talking to me.

Of course, solving one problem leads to other issues. The big one being how to handle the over arc across three books rather than four. This is a better problem than having blank characters because I just never have blank characters. Usually it's the opposite. But that's another story.

I usually don't drive to work. I'm in a van pool and usually leave the driving to someone else, but recently I needed to drive to work. It was 55 degrees and the sun wasn't up yet. My car--which is almost too automated--puts on the air conditioner. I turn it off.

My window starts to fog, so I turn on the defroster. It's blowing really cold. So cold that the window begins to ice where the vents are. I turn it off. The car immediately puts the AC back on.

No. I turn it off.

My window fogs up again. Repeat the scenario in paragraphs 2 and 3. Not just once. Repeat it about half a dozen times.

I have my car's thermostat set at 72 degrees, so I can't understand why it's blowing so cold. I go to adjust the climate control and see that it's set at 60. What??? I know I didn't do that. It's been a cold winter in Atlanta. I bump up the temperature to 80. Within a minute, it's too hot. I take it down a few degrees. Still too hot.

I dropped it to 72 degrees. Where I had it set to begin with. The defroster now runs at the right temperature to keep the window from fogging and without causing ice. The car is also a comfortable temperature for me.

Automation is awesome, but my car was winning the battle of the thermostat. I know I didn't like that.