Another Milestone!

Just Five Months!

Unbelievably, it took about two years to reach a total of 50 Vocal posts and only another five months to make it to 75! I'm not certain if that means that I'm writing faster or if I have more to write about or if I'm simply less selective about my topics. Regardless, onward and upward. Maybe we can reach a full 100 by my birthday in March.

Life is a bit downbeat right now. Sadly, Cowboy's health is failing. We know that he's comfortable and he seems happy, so we're going to let nature take its course. Badger is recovering nicely from his eye surgery, but I'll be honest. I find it difficult to look my wonderful Badger Boy full on, in the face. I know that I did nothing wrong, but in the back of my head is the niggling idea that I caused him to have his eye removed. I just have to deal with that for a time, as it's the way my mind works as I adjust to new things. Also, Artoo isn't feeling all that well, although the sprain has improved dramatically over the past couple of days.

It just feels as if the worries and the vet bills continue to pile up. Sometimes, I wonder why I do any of this. I'd certainly be a lot richer if I'd stayed in my second-story walkup in Metairie, rather than deciding to move here! But there are riches beyond finances, and, of that, I am constantly reminding myself. Sometimes, like the other night, when the moon is full and the air is still and all I can hear are the soft trills of the quail and the muted bleats of the goats as they settle in . . . those nights I don't have to remind myself at all.

As to the Goats:

• Bucky Boo is still in with the does. He's a good boy and doesn't bother them much. He's small enough that he'd be coyote bait if I put him in with the bucks, without a secure pen at night. He's got a nice temperament, but his size alone is enough to make me glad that I wethered him.
• Gus is a nice goat, but he's definitely on the bottom of the totem pole. I'd love to see kids from him, although with Screechy around that's pretty much impossible. He still has a cough, which seems to be associated with dust and dry weather. We'll see what happens later on, when we have rain again and dust isn't coating everything.
• Screechy is getting older and I can see his rear legs beginning to stiffen. We have a couple of years left with him, I think, and I expect we'll see kids from him and Sunshine later on. There's still a spark in the old boy.
• Violet is in heat. She's being obnoxious and tends to not want to come in at night, preferring to remain near the fence bordering the buck pen. If all goes well, she'll have kids in the spring.
• Sunshine is a good little doe, as usual. I'm drying her off, as the saying goes, for the winter. It will be weird buying milk now! Dan insists that I'm doing it so that I won't have to milk in the cold, but really it's so that she will have a bit of time to rest before-- oh, who am I fooling? The last thing I want to do is milk twice a day when the temperatures drop.

What Else is Going On?

I'm glad that you asked! During these final few days of October, I am busily preparing for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Every year I get my character sheets out and my section sheets ready to take my novel in a bold direction sure to win a contract. And, as usual, any battle plan fails to survive first contact with my opponent. However, this year is no different than last year or the year before. I will plan and organize and write sample scenes and dialogue that will never make it into the finished product--all of which will be forgotten by November 2. It's life. In NaNo terms, I'm really a "pantser" (writing without an outline, "by the seat of one's pants"), but I spend most of October pretending that I'm a planner. I've got about 15 section sheets of 40 done right now, so the jury is still out as to whether I can completely finish them "on time."

In addition, deer season is ramping up. It starts on October 1st every year, but bow season is first, followed by primitive weapon season, followed by youth season. It's not until November (right in time for NaNoWriMo) that gun season starts and we start getting scrap deer meat and bones from hunters every day to process. We're just in the early stages now, but it can take up to eight hours every day to process the meat, with Dan picking up bone, me sorting bones and cutting the meat off of them, then Dan grinding some of the meat and disposing of the bones in "the bone pit." (I would love to be a fly on the wall in 1000 years, when archeologists discover our bone pits. Just saying.) By the time deer season is over, we'll have processed and frozen well over a ton of meat for the dogs to eat until next season--or until we run out and decide that we can find them an alternate food source (other than kibble). I'll be processing venison six days a week from the beginning of November to the beginning of January, when it again begins to slow down until the season ends on January 31.

Thank You for Reading!

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