WordPlay

Boy, am I having a good time with The Write Horse today.  Never mind that I’m wishing that had been ME on that cattle round-up!  Such fun to absorb the adventure…

But if you’re a writer–especially one who wants the option of using ranching, the old West, or horses in your work–it’s more than that.  It’s a chance to tap into the all-too-rare horse-n-rider/rider-n-great outdoors gestalt that can be so hard to come by these days.

Soak it up, peoples! Boy, I know I am.  And I’m right HERE!

The DurginBook tidbits of the day? Hidden Steel had a place on the Frugal Kindle this week–yay!  Great resource, and one I have tagged for when I have my own reading device.  And the emergency dental work continues…but is going to take a while.  Did you know that if you rub Tiger Balm into your jaws, your eyes will water for hours?

And yes–!  This weekend it’s off to another agility trial.  Cross your fingers for us!

It’s a get ready weekend!

For me, get ready for September, which holds a slew of agility trials. For today, get ready for the weekend–and that means figuring out where Dart Puppy is slipping out of the back yard, and setting myself up with some OH YEAH COOL I CAN’T WAIT scenes in the book.

For this morning, it means “Here comes the Write Horse!” And possibly some thinking that if you haven’t ever owned a horse, you haven’t ever considered.

There are a lot of people making decisions about animal legislation these days…and far too many of them no longer have a day-to-day acquaintance with those animals, or even a passing awareness of the logistics of training, housing, handling, and loving those animals. To a certain extent, those of us deeply involved with animals have let this happen–because the realities of what we know from intimate acquaintance are so very obvious, it doesn’t occur to us that other people can’t see it, too.

One of these days I’ll go on my spay/neuter kick. Let’s just say that in the past thirty years, I’ve owned only one dog who hit the spay/neuter stage before she hit complete maturity or beyond, and if I have anything to say about it, that’s the way it’ll continue. I don’t breed; I don’t intend to breed. But I know what’s best for my animals, and those who are not handling them/competing them/training them…

Well, they don’t.

So which of us should be making the decisions?

It’s Bubonicon weekend!  That engaging, personable convention held here in Albuquerque (home of prairie dogs and their bubonic plague, in case you didn’t get that one…).  This afternoon I’m off to schmooze with the fun readers and writers of this area, and today I’m all a twitter–er, no, not that kind of twitter–pulling together some books and notes and postcards and seeing if there’s anything in the closet that fits me.

Today at the Write Horse, Patty’s adventures are closer to home…a week of tidbits from the trainer’s life.  Made me smile.  It’s noticing the little moments with animals that makes the difference when it comes to pulling the big training picture together!

Off to notice some little moments in my writing life.  It’s a good philosophy!

Brain Bust.

Also known as, too many projects, too little time, and you want me to what, now?

Well, I did. But I think it broke my brain. I think I need a weekend in, um, hey! How about Montana?

One weekend with photos, coming up! Not mine, but hey…I make a living from living not only out loud, but vicariously. This is good for me! I hope you enjoy it, too!

…Boy, will you know what Patty is talking about. After a week in which I paid $350 to NOT diagnose what’s going on with ConneryBeagle (jury is still out, but we’re taking a break for careful observations), I certainly do!

But as I write this, we all just returned from smokin’ fun agility course run-throughs. Connery was grinning from Beagle ear to Beagle ear, Belle had found her happy face, and the puppy had a very good few moments taking his low jumps and zooming through a couple of tunnels. A car full of replete dogs, tired person, and satisfaction.

What’s that they say?

Ohhh, right.

Priceless!

…Friday

I had a Fjord friend…a young man coming back from an injury who needed conditioning while, as it happens, Duncan had just had his stifle injury and wasn’t expected to ever go under saddle again.  At the time, we were waiting to see how things would progress (which was eventually to Cornell and surgery and defiance of all odds).  And so I needed a ride…

Well, my first  ride was stolen out from under me.  No, seriously.  Stolen.  But then I had my Fjord friend, and I was introduced to the incredible, sturdy personality-plus machine.  Now Patty’s been having Fjord adventures, and oh yeah…I can relate!

I’m babysitting again, but I have a suspicion that Patty will be stopping by during her big current adventure.  My adventures this weekend will be with the dogs–some tracking practice (we have our own special tracking harness and line, now!) and then to a puppy match, where the adult dogs are heading for some fun with rally courses to make them feel special, and the new Beagle puppy–an adolescent boy with all of three weeks of training on top of no established foundation behaviors–will be playing in obedience and rally and HA HA HA pretending to take a CGC test.

Yes.  I will be major entertainment for all and sundry.  But it’s great socialization, which he needs.  And lo, I shall laugh and frolic with the silliness that emerges…

No video cameras, please!!

…Friday

It’s a Write Horse day!  And a hint of the grand adventures that have brought Patty back to report on posts, all “Wow!” and zen and “Whoa! Pretty!” Seriously. Sad Keanu could take a lesson here.

Around home, things have been more drenching. As in, astonishingly drenching. As in, the monsoon is here and it’s not playing around, either. After enough rain last weekend to create creeks across this sloped property and send the arroyos running hard, we’re still drying out and finessing the waterscaping (one must, after all, DIRECT those creeks. Especially since one of them quite naturally wants to run through the barn).

Since then we’re back to more typical seasonal activity–building clouds during the day that, on a lucky day, burst free with rain overhead. But even if we’re not getting it here, it’s pounding out a mile or so away…someone’s getting wet.

But y’know…it’s the desert. We try not to complain about rain. We tend to go out and dance in it!

…Friday

It’s a Write Horse day!  And the things you just don’t necessarily think about when you haven’t spend hours on horseback. Surprise!

And surprise again! Patty’s off having a grand time again, so here I am, looking to greet your comments with a wave and a smile and a “have a good read!”

I, on the other hand, am happy to be home. There’s an arroyo ride in my day today, if it seems safe enough–we’ve had rain, and that means the arroyos aren’t dry or stable. I might just sneak around to gentler land and work some canter fun. And being home means I can give Duncan a pat, return to the office, and dive back into the first draft with which I’m having such fun!

…Friday

Or if not you, your characters? Oh, so many little things to think about…

To get right, too.

And yeah, you’d best do that. Get it right, I mean. Because there are still enough of us out here reading who know the difference…

(Ooh, wasn’t that an ominous little note?)

For me it’s been about the dogs these past two weeks…and then recovering from the craziness of it (which means trying to get caught up on work, ha ha ha!). Like tonight, when I should have been writing this? Yup, I was happily making up a cover for one of the stories I’m sending off to Kindle this week. (Other formats later, but gotta start somewhere.)

And talking about little things to think about, there’s the rest of the process–like the proofing. And chortling over the typo a friend found in the Reckoners story I just started processing online–fortunately before I actually started the process.

Because yeah, if you’ve got a bad guy who’s in the process of screaming, you REALLY do not want to leave off the first letter of that word. I leave you to figure it out. And have a fun read with Patty and the Write Horse!

…Friday

It’s a Write Horse day!  Glee for all!  I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did (oh, the gloat–I got a sneak preview).

Plus, the truth is, I  have terrible barn envy and terrible hay envy.  I can fit about 6 months’ of hay in my barn…and at the moment, have only a week or three remaining, while waiting for my farm store source to come through (the most expensive of the options Patty discusses below, but the only logistical solution for us).  When you’re managing horse care, there is nothing like the security of a full hay stall…

As with last week, we’re actually off running agility today–huge3-day trial at the state fairgrounds, where I’ve somehow ended up running in three classes at once each day?! Yeah, I’m sane. Enjoy The Write Horse, and don’t snicker too hard at the thought of me!