Be happy. It's one way of being wise. (Colette)

Slow going today. Gram had a doctor’s appointment this morning and I took her to that, so I didn’t make it to my desk (or rather my bed) until nearly 2 p.m. We worked on magazine submissions today and my head is splitting. Still haven’t made pages. Will probably work on that after supper.

The countdown has begun for calving season. Last year (2007) we calved in January and, of course, several cows dropped during a cold snap where it got down to single digits and stayed there for a week. It got up to twenty degrees and we had our coats off, almost sweating in the heat wave. (I am seriously not kidding about that one either.) We lost a set of twin bull calves, one single, and a heifer died from a weird clostridia thing. So no, spring calving was not for us. We didn’t like the cold Jan-Apr, or the mud Apr-May, or the summer May-August, so we went for fall, Sept-Nov 15 (due to deer season opening). The calves should have some grow on them before snow that way. We’ll see how this thing goes.

Haven’t done a book update lately. I’m reading about seven at last count, for pleasure, research, and some devotion to a classical education. So none of them are finishing that fast. Alice in Wonderland is actually quite good. The Disney version freaked me out as a kid (I’ve never been very brave) so I was a little apprehensive about it. But the book is fun, right along the lines of Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh (always a classic; love Eeyore and Piglet). It’s a nice relief from Nick Adams, Strange Candy, and Astral Projection for Beginners. (Yeah, Taylor didn’t know she’d need that when we started out either.) So lots a new age and shamanic research for some of my characters and poems to try and inspire me to actually write some. Maybe one of these days I’ll get to read a novel again. (Can anyone say the queen of wishful thinking?)