Weekly Recap

Wow have I been a slacker this week. My workout routine went to hell and my writing thing has been all over. Luckily the cows behaved, except for escaping twice due to deer damage to the back fence, or it would have been insanity around here.

To recap, Monday I realized that I’m reading way too many books. I did a blog entry about it but didn’t post it. Too whiney. Here’s the non-whiney excerpt.

I have a confession to make: I am addicted to books. I hide them under my bed. I keep them in the closet, in the bathroom, the kitchen, the car, anywhere I might be where I might need a fix. Right now I have an embarrassing amount of books on my night stand. And yes, I am reading all of them. I’ve been trying to get the number back to a respectable four or five, however, this endeavor has failed. And what do I do last night as I watch “Chocolat” with Juliette Binoch and Johnny Depp for the third (fourth?) time? I start two more books.

In my defense, I did finish four books last week. Unfortunately, I add books to the pile before I finish enough to make room for the new ones. As of today, I’m reading Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (at the rate of one act per day, thus one play per week), Tales of H.P. Lovecraft (which have me too spooked to continue), Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (also too spooked to go on), Shamans of the World eds Nancy Connor, The Farthest Shore by Ursula Le Guin, The Real Witches’ Handbook by Kate West, Breathing Life into your Characters (it’s downstairs so I don’t have the author off hand), Writing the Breakout Novel and workbook by Donald Maass, International Erotica eds Maxim Jakubowski, The Intelligence of Dogs by Stanley Coren, Chocolat by Joanne Harris, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and Creating Character Emotions by Ann Hood. That doesn’t even touch on the books I keep close by for daily reference, inspiration, etc.

Tuesday Dana and I took her Jack Russell Terrier to Michigan State University’s vet clinic to diagnose this awful skin disease the dog has been fighting. I’ll post pics when we have a diagnosis. Just be glad, gentle reader, that you can’t smell the dog while eating. Something about rotting skin and hair over a peanut butter sandwich that’s just bleck!

Wednesday was kind of an off day. I got home relatively early, but the cows escaped and once we got them back in, the day was just kind of odd. Thursday went much better as Dad and I went to Ionia horseback riding. (Do dragonflies screwing on your shoulder mean good luck? Lol.) Friday it rained. Yesterday the cows escaped again, but went back in easily. Today we fixed some deer damaged fence and Dad is catching up on his nap the cows interrupted yesterday.

Gram went home with my aunt to Ohio, so we have three dogs this week. Maxine is one of the grossest heelers. She’s made short work of the dead coon and loves chewing the heads of freshly killed mice. The little calf “toosie roll caramels,” as we call them, are her favorite delicacy.