Grandad taught me the art of knitting while he spit cherry pits into a plastic bucket. He believed knit one, pearl one, was the best way to deal with the chaos that surrounds us like water around an island.
This week, Esther Chilton's challenge is to write a 39 word story using: Chaos, Knitting, Island, Grandad, Plastic, Cherry. Grandad taught me the art of knitting while he spit cherry pits into a plastic bucket. He believed knit one, pearl one, was the best way to deal with the chaos that surrounds us like water around an island. #AnnEdallRobson #FromWhereICome #imaginationoverdrive #39wordstory #photowritingprompt #writingprompt #CapturingMomentsOthersMayNeverGetToExperience #RuralLiving #WhoaBackUpStop #AnnEdallRobsonPhotography #annedallrobsonbooks #flashfiction #wordwritingprompt
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Mac hadn’t been impressed with the greenhorn they’d hired, but had given the kid a chance. Talk around the breakfast table came to a halt when the kid said he had an AI Degree from the nearby Agricultural College. Mac told everyone to meet in the barn after breakfast and the kid could give them a lesson on AI. The others around the table stared. The greenhorn turned white. “My degree is in artificial intelligence.” “Flying saucers!” Boomed Mac as he left the room. The morning orders echoed from the hall. “Barn! Ten minutes! That includes you too, greenhorn!” 99 WORDS...AND A LITTLE BIT MOREIt seemed fitting to include some old characters in this week’s prompt that took me to almost 300 words by the time I finished the exercise. Paring it down to 99 words was a chore, but this is the result. When two different worlds collide, there is a possibility the words we hear do not mean the same, especially when acronyms are used. And even more so, when different generations have their own meaning of words, both correct, and both with the ability to get people’s danders up. Tell me one person who is from an era before the internet that doesn’t think of green men and spaceships when they hear those words, artificial Intelligence. Giving it the acronym AI only makes it worse, because probably many in this era immediately let their brain go to the veterinarian showing up with whatever he needed to artificially inseminate the cows. I am of the opinion that AI as in artificial insemination takes precedence to AI as in artificial intelligence. There will be those of you reading this who will disagree, and that is fine. Remember, everyone is permitted to have an opinion. I have taken liberties and call the new AI by my own description that I mostly mumble under my breath. Apparently, it’s not for public dissertations. I’ll leave it at that. How do I feel about its intrusion into my life? I am not going to trundle down a rabbit hole just because it’s trendy. You must remember I like to write my stories longhand first. Perhaps when I no longer have vision, or can’t clutch a pen, or use a keyboard, I can only hope that most of the bugs have been swatted away from this thing we call artificial intelligence and I will be able to use it as I choose. Do I use Artificial Intelligence in my writing? I have to say this: I do not use it to write my stories; however, to end with some humour, I need to reminisce back to the time I made the decision to turn on the autocorrect button in my writing program. In that regard, I have used AI for years. But, my imagination allows me to think I had a personal little minion snoozing in the backroom of the program waiting for me to spell something wrong. Unfortunately, they didn’t get much sleep due to my great ability to use Canadian spelling vs USA suggested that keeps popping up, among other things. While writing out the first draft of the Little Bit More portion of this post, they were on a coffee break, therefore no spell check or any other form of fixing was used. And, in case you find something that coulda/shoulda/woulda needed to be corrected, I am hoping you are pretending not to notice. After all, we are human, we make mistakes. The minions? Well, that’s another story for another time. AI is here to stay, and it’s been here for a long time already. How we use it is up each person to decide. #AnnEdallRobson #FromWhereICome #99WordStories #FlashFiction #AI #artificialinsemination #heifers #flyingsaucers #artificialintelligence #ranchtradition #makingmemories #graveltravel #CapturingMomentsOthersMayNeverGetToExperience #TheOldWays #RuralLiving #WhoaBackUpStop #AnnEdallRobsonPhotography February 27, 2024, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about artificial intelligence. Use any genre. What is unfolding or has the situation existed for a while? Who shows up, AI or a figure of imagination? Go where the prompt leads!
Temperatures drop, snow swirls into wind-driven hard-packed drifts. A song worms itself into the brain, “The weather outside is frightful.” Water troughs become blocks, haystacks drift in. Bundled in insulated clothing, plow snow to get feed, open water, plow to get home, repeat. Calving time is hell. Wrecking weather takes hold. Momma cows get moved to where babies can be born, kept warm, without too much worry about little ears and tails freezing. Sleep, eat, and check stock done in shifts by the keepers of this lifestyle. No days-off, no snow-days. This is their life. 99 WORDS...AND A LITTLE BIT MORERanching and farming take on their own meaning of a glorious life. One that is far removed from the portraits painted on television and in the movies. It’s a lifestyle not all can endure. The heartache of losing stock to weather and predators, seeing crops shrivel away to nothing because of lack of moisture, and work days and nights that meld together as one, becoming a complete year in what seems like a blink of an eye. Yet, ranchers and farmers find a way to dig deep within to survive this way of life. It is ingrained in their souls. It is what they do and have been doing for a long, long time. They might come off as being gruff, standoffish and maybe even snobbish. But let me tell you, they are far from this exterior shell that paints them as an unapproachable person. The ones I have been privileged to know in my lifetime are kind and respectful. But, they usually don’t have the time of day for anyone who doesn’t have a lick of common sense, or put it into practice. Looking after the well-being of their animals is a priority before they think of their personal health. They are stewards of the land, and they are the first to step up to help a neighbour in need. They are the kind of person any one of us should be honoured to call an acquaintance, better yet, a friend. Unfortunately, as modern life takes hold of generations, there are families who question keeping history alive. For years, young adults moved away from the ranch and farm life. Yet, as I write this, I am also seeing the trend of them returning to their roots. Brining with them knowledge to enhance and grow the lifestyle of the generations that came before them. Diversifying what is already there to move forward and keep the family ranch/farm alive. It saddens me to hear people talk about farm and ranch land as if it were a commodity to be used for other reasons besides farming and ranching. This might fall under the ‘lick of common sense’ heading. They might even be the ones who think their food comes from the grocery store and it begins with a truck bringing said food to the store. There are people who have no idea about who really feeds us. They don’t care about the ranchers who have been out all night helping a cow have her calf only to lose one or both. They complain about food prices yet have no empathy for the farmer who ponders what crop to plant next year after seeing this year’s grain fields annihilated beyond recognition by hail days before a bumper crop is to be harvested. They don’t realize that the owners of a farm or ranch quite possibly take on outside work to make ends meet, and yet continue to put food on our table. With the hardship of farming and ranching comes a sense of accomplishment, too. Cattle selling at good prices. Hay fields with bales so close together the abundance gives way to another avenue of revenue. Looking over the land, seeing what the hard work has brought, they humbly know it has happened because of who they are. It doesn’t matter where you live, or where you come from, we depend on our ranchers and farmers. There is all kinds of modern technological resources to read on this life, but not many will take the time to educate on what really matters…the people behind the industry, the rancher and the farmer. Thank them, appreciate them, get to know them if you can, and especially become knowledgeable about what they do for us.
#AnnEdallRobson #FromWhereICome #99WordStories #FlashFiction #ranchtradition #makingmemories #graveltravel #CapturingMomentsOthersMayNeverGetToExperience #TheOldWays #RuralLiving #WhoaBackUpStop #AnnEdallRobsonPhotography #winterstorm #thankarancher #thankafarmer January 16, 2024, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that unfolds during wrecking weather. You can set the story anywhere and use any genre. Who are your wreckers? Your targets? Your merchants? Are there difficulties to overcome the weather? Go where the prompt leads!
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Ann Edall-Robson
Author, Photographer, Lover of Life. "Capturing moments others may never get to experience.” 99 Words
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