'Riting, Farming, and Reading (The Three Rs...err, wait...)

I’m loving Theory of a Deadman’s “Hate My Life” right now. I think it’s funny in a weird context. Example: the line “I hate my job/ my boss is a dick/ I don’t get paid nearly enough to put up with all of his shit.” In my world, I work for myself, so I think it’s funny. My boss can be a real dick. Okay, maybe it’s just me, but I get a kick out of it.

Worked until almost 1 a.m. last night, so a little slow this morning. Excited about writing today though, so that’s good. Yesterday it just wasn’t there. So I ran errands instead. Maxine went with me and I think she had fun. She likes to look at stuff and smell things. It was nice so I could leave the window down while we drove and let her smell up the town. I tried to be quick so she didn’t have to wait long. Five stops in an hour and a half quick enough?

Dad’s been working on building a mobile chicken coop on an old (see free) snowmobile trailer frame. He likes doing stuff like that, taking old things and making something new. He comes up with some pretty interesting things sometimes. We get to order baby chicks when he gets the coop done and I can start seedlings next week on the full moon. At least I think it’s the full moon. I can’t see the calendar from here and I’m too lazy to get up and look. It’s one of the first years I’ve been excited about spring in a long time. Usually, I greet it grudgingly, since spring means summer is on the way. And summer is fine, but it’s, well, hot.

It’s odd how certain books or authors find you when you’re ready to receive them. I never would have enjoyed Stephen King before now. Granted, the Dark Tower series is different from his other work, but he’s a writer I’ve really learned a lot from about telling the damn story. But I don’t think I would have appreciated it at any other time than right now. I also started the Tao Te Ching last night, Stephen Mitchell’s translation, and wow. That old Chinese guy makes a lot of sense. And Mitchell’s interpretation really helps the process along. I’d try to describe it, but I can’t do it justice. Read the damn book.

Other than that, nothing new. Joseph came out and helped with chores this week and Maxine continues to improve. I can take her stitches out on Monday and she’s been totally off pain meds since the weekend. I can’t even describe the relief. I guess it’s right up there with a child in pain and healing. My animals are like my kids sometimes and I get upset when I can’t fix them. That’s why farming is something you either have in you or you don’t. I can’t control my empathy and need to do what I do anymore than I can change the color of my hair or the drive to write. I can dye it, cover it up, ignore it, but it’s still there, the need to do whatever the hell it is that I do. And it’s easier to learn to channel that energy than go crazy (probably literally) from the ignoring it.