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Posts Tagged ‘Dogs’

I’m a couple of days late posting this. There are a number of reasons for that, but . . . who needs excuses.

The main thing is that I continue to make progress on MAGE STORM.

Mage Storm

Not quite as fast as last week, but that’s to be expected.

In other news:

-In gardening, the Heart of Darkness (otherwise known as the turk’s cap plant at the side of the house) has been tamed (as much as it can be at the moment).

Before:

Heart of Darkness

Half-way through:

Heart of Darkness Today

It was like that green wall at the back pretty much from end to end.

Finished:

Heart of Darkness Part 2

Well, that photo isn’t completely finished. There’s another section beyond that wall with the weird little window. (That window is actually in a closet. Old houses are weird.) It’s mostly ivy, not turk’s cap, beyond that point. And narrower. And I did cut back most of that stuff that was higher up and out of reach without a ladder. (Some of it was still out of reach, at least for me.) Also, I finished up this morning by raking up all the dead leaves, etc. on the ground.

-I’ve also nearly finished the whole house cleaning–as long as you don’t count the back bedroom/storage room. I’ll have to get to that, too. Preferably before I have to get the Christmas stuff (much of which is stored in there) out.

-Summer is almost over. School starts on Monday. Sadie isn’t going to like that. She likes having me home all the time.

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-I finished another course through The Great Courses Plus, Heroes and Legends. It was clear fairly early on that the lecturer meant something different by heroes and legends than I do, although some would have fit my definition. Still, there were some interesting insights.

I’ve started another, How to Write Best-Selling Fiction, taught by James Scott Bell. It’s always nice when a writing class is taught by someone who is actually a writer.

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. . . try sideways. Thinking about WILD MAGE (formerly ROGUE MAGE), the second book in the series, just might get me started writing again. Not yet, but–hopefully–soon. It has shown me that MAGE STORM has to end in a different place than I’d originally thought. So that’s something.

Mage Storm

In other news, Sadie has vanquished the monster in the walls.

Sadie goes after the monster in the walls

Now I just have to finish patching the wall. I’ve got some left-over bead board paneling put up there so this won’t happen again. There’s almost certainly some left over molding out in the garage to finish the top as well. All I need to do is cut down the bead board to fit and tack it up.

Unfortunately, it seems I don’t have the tools I need anymore. A coping saw just isn’t cutting it (pun intended). Well, I’ll just have to improvise. Or go get a better tool. One or the other.

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Late Again

By my very own schedule, this post was due on Wednesday. It’s Friday, so . . . yeah, I’m late again.

Life just got a little crazy this week and forced to choose between writing this blog post and spending time with Sadie . . . guess who won.

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Although I have a number of chores on my list for this weekend–while it has, at least temporarily, stopped raining–I hope and expect that things will now settle down to allow me to carve out some more productive writing time.

One of those chores is to begin some training with Sadie. She came to me with excellent house manners, but there are one or two specific things I’d like to train. Cheese appears to be a good high-value reward to grease that along. Regular obedience training will start in April, I expect.

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Sadie

I’ve been without a dog since I lost Micah back in August.

Introducing Sadie.

Sadie by my desk

Technically, she’s here for a trial period. For my part, the trial was over almost before it started, but I’m going to give her a few days to settle in and relax.

That’s her curled up by my desk. She’s a real sweetheart. We’ll start with an obedience class–she’s got great house manners and an excellent recall, but not the sort of commands she’ll need for agility. Then we’ll start agility classes.

This has taken most of my concentration for the last couple of days. And might for a few more. And that’s as it should be.

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Excuses

Missed posting yesterday. Well, what can I say? Yesterday was one of those days when things just didn’t work out as planned. I tried unclogging the kitchen sink with my brand new sink snake–and only succeeded in making a bigger mess. I have concluded that I need a hands on tutorial on how to use a drain snake. And, while I was doing that, the washing machine overflowed. Just . . . yeah, not my best day.

And the day before that I’d spent at a dog show. Well, and driving 70 or so miles there and the same back again. Going up was a very pleasant drive. Coming back . . . where did all that traffic come from on a Saturday. Glad I didn’t try to go up for the regional specialty on Friday. (For those who don’t know, a specialty dog show is one devoted to a single breed of dogs, in this case Cardigan Welsh corgis. Most exhibitors who were there for the specialty stayed for the regular dog shows over the weekend, which made it a good time to go up and make contact with some breeders and see a lot of beautiful dogs. That part was fun. I want another Cardi so badly.)

Micah and Aliza

Michael (2004-2018) and Aliza (2000 -2016), my previous Cardigan Welsh Corgis

Put all of that together with the week from hades–rain four out of five days, paired with someone having the bright idea to pick last week to do maintenance on the utility poles–multiple very large trucks taking up critical parking–sometimes directly across from each other so that the street was effectively a single lane. Oh, and on a curve, so you never knew if someone else was starting into that narrow spot from the other direction.

Well, enough excuses. No, I didn’t get any writing done on anything last week. No rain forecast for next week, though, so there’s hope.

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In Other News

Because progress reports about how much or how little I’ve written on MAGE STORM are boring,

Mage Storm

maybe I should post about something else.

First choice would be what I’m learning. I bought a number of books about the business–especially the marketing–side of this writing business. Unfortunately, so far I haven’t had any epiphanies. Well, except that everyone seems to agree that I need to just bite the bullet and start a mailing list. Something I’ve been resisting. Maybe I’ll give it another go. Maybe. I can be a pretty good procrastinator when I want to. Not in the same class as my Dad,

Dad in Uniform

My father.

but . . . the apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree.

What else is going on?

Well, since I lost both my dogs. Aliza in May 2016 and Micah just this last August,

Micah and Aliza

I’ve been wanting to get another dog. I’ve looked a couple of places, but I what I really want is another Cardigan Welsh Corgi. I’d gotten on a waiting list for a litter that was planned for this coming summer, but now it looks like that won’t happen. So, I’m going to get more serious and really start looking. Talking to Cardi breeders, for a start.

That could get interesting. Both Aliza and Micah came to me as adults while I was taking care of my mother,

Mom, Young

and needed dogs of known temperament and some level of maturity.  Aliza was fifteen months old, a failed show prospect but a champion companion, when I got her. Micah was three and a half years old, a retired breed champion, when he came to me. Both came from their breeders. But . .  . I haven’t had a puppy since I was in the sixth grade. It’d be a whole new experience. I’m going to look into Cardigan rescue, too. But that’s probably a long shot. Not too many Cardis end up in rescue.

So . . . that’s most of what else is occupying my time right now–aside from the day job, of course.

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Stuck

I’m behind by a day. Yesterday, just sort of got away from me. That happens sometimes.

And . . . I don’t have much to post about right now, anyway. The truth is I’m not feeling very creative at the moment. It’s not writer’s block–been there, got the T-shirt. It’s more just that other things–one specific other thing, is taking up all the energy that would normally go into writing.

My good old boy dog is dying. He’s been showing his age–fourteen and a half–for a while now, but he’s really gone downhill rapidly since last Sunday, though he is still eating, if not much else. I’m wrestling with the decision nearly all pet owners have to face sooner or later and I just don’t have the emotional energy left over to put into writing.

Micah was originally Michael, when he came to me eleven years ago. But that’s my brother’s name so, to keep peace in the family–and avoid confusion–I dropped the L-sound and called him Micah. He never noticed the difference. Officially, to the AKC, he’s Ch. Snowrose Flying Without Wings. A Cardigan Welsh corgi. He’s been my Velcro dog, following me from room to room, my agility team mate, my good boy. And, currently, he’s my only pet. It just happened that way as the cats left us, one by one, and then we lost Aliza (Tricreek’s Simply Irresistable) two years ago.

A year ago, I tried to bring another dog in. Micah was quite all right with it, once he had a chance to get used to the idea. But the new dog turned out to be an escape artist, and I live on a busy street, so I had to take her back because I knew I couldn’t keep her safe. The last six months or so, Micah has really needed to be an only dog and so he has been. The house is going to very quiet when he’s gone.

Micah when I first met him:

Michael 2

In his prime:

Digital Camera

With Aliza:

Micah and Aliza

Playing dog agility:

Micah Tire

Pretending to be a Christmas present:

Christmas Present

That’s a good boy, Micah. That’ll do.

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First, I’m still on schedule with the first draft of BECOME: TO RIDE THE STORM.

StormCover2

Last Wednesday, I had started Chapter 36. Yesterday, I started Chapter 39. So, that’s actually a bit ahead of schedule. And, better yet, I’m starting to be able to visualize all the chapters that will get me from there to the climax.

That said, I didn’t get much more than a paragraph written yesterday because . . . distractions. And not necessarily the ones you might expect of a holiday week.

The first distraction was pain. See, my dog is now 14 and 1/2.

Digital Camera

(That’s not a current picture of Micah. He’s got a lot more grey on his face, now.) He doesn’t like going up and down the steps from the house to the patio and from the patio to the ground. The steps from the patio to the ground have a very low rise and are . . . is wider the right term here? Anyway:

Steps up to Patio

(This picture was taken before I’d done the spring cleanup.) Well, to get to the point: Monday night I was at the top of the steps trying to encourage Micah to climb up. He had, as he often does, stopped half-way. This was at about 10 o’clock at night, by the way. You can’t really see it in this photo unless you know what you’re looking for, but the patio has sunk a little–about an inch or so–just behind the top step. So, I started to go down to encourage Micah but, because I was concentrating on the dog instead of where I put my feet, I caught my foot on that little lip. And ended up at the bottom of the steps, landing hard on my left shoulder (the bad one that I hurt years ago). And I seem to have hit every single brick step on the way down. So, yesterday morning I was not exactly comfortable and not concentrating as well as I might. (I’m much better today, though I’m still not going to raise my left arm over my head very often.)

I decided to spend a little time preparing for tomorrow’s #ThemeThursday, which will be reluctant heroes. I was looking for an image to use in a twitter post for THE BARD’S GIFT. I found one. In fact, the image was so perfect I ended up making a new cover.

TBG New

And using the image from the old cover for the promo.

TBG Reluctant Hero

But, hey, for a change I’m all ready for #ThemeThursday. And still on schedule with the first draft of BECOME: TO RIDE THE STORM. So, win-win.

 

 

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Sorry This is Late.

Very late. I haven’t been feeling very well off and on the last few days. Add in some distractions with the new dog–the two are not entirely unrelated–and nothing much has gotten done. Making a plan to change that, but no progress yet.

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I may have lost my mind. We’ll see. I went and got another dog on Saturday. She’s a real sweetheart–very, very good with people.

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Interactions with my resident dog still a work in progress.

Digital Camera

Digital Camera

However, she’s way too interested in the resident feral cats (fed by my nephew) and a couple of small dogs we’ve passed on our walks (three so far).

Needless to say, I haven’t gotten any writing done since Friday–when I did finish a chapter of BECOME: TO CATCH THE LIGHTNING and figure out how many more chapters there are in that section I’ve been working on.

becomeblue

 

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