Yesterday afternoon I finally, FINALLY, finished the edits on my third novel manuscript. As usual, I felt a little sad that I had come to the end of it, and while printing it out (I always keep a hard copy of the final draft), I got caught up reading passages as I waited for the pages to emerge from the printer.
For anyone who writes and has completed a novel or other book-length project, you know this feeling. It's an odd mixture of glee and emptiness. And it can happen any number of times with any given ms because sometimes what we *think* is the final draft isn't.
This particular ms is going off to a very particular reader, so until I actually box the thing up and get it in the mail I'm not completely done with it. And when it comes back with feedback I'll certainly be taking it up again, but for now, emotionally, I'm done.
Also as usual, about 15 minutes after I put the entire stack of pages into their box, The Next Book began to screech at me, in this case, two of them.
One is a middle grade novel that has been sitting in my head for several years. I have about 4 chapters and a lot of notes and an idea of where it's going.
The other one is nonfiction, has also been sitting in my head for a good while, and for that one I have about 150 pages done and every chapter is at least named and blurbed.
My resolution for 2009 was to go through these books, one at a time, in the order they came to me. This is murky with these two, though, as I can't quite remember which one came first, and I'm eager to work on both again. The thing I don't want to do is vacillate between them, getting a little bit done on one, and then another bit done on the other.
So today is about making a decision and then moving on with it.
To that end I'd like to do a little experiment. I'm going to assign random numbers to each project. If you want to help me out, sit quiet for a moment, let a number between 1 and 100 pop into your head, and then leave it in a comment. I'll see which one has the most numbers closest to those I assigned. I'm curious to see which one gets the most psychic "votes." :)
ADDENDUM: It occurred to me that I should probably not put the comments through until I get them all in, so that no one is influenced by reading previous commenters' numbers. I'm going to collect comments and numbers until midnight tonight (Saturday July 11) and then I'll post the comments and do the calculating. Thanks to all who have already left numbers - hopefully more folks will so I get a good "sample." :)
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thursday, July 09, 2009
a long-awaited rainy day and quiet
I woke up to some rain this a.m. and was so happy to hear it. Even with the small rain we got last week everything has been dry. It's so dark out right now I have my desk lamp on!
Now if we can get more as the day goes on.
Dickens is hunkered down at the base of a tree in the front field. I'm not sure if he's guarding something he caught, monitoring something he's chased up the tree, or posting himself as a deterrent to the Cat Next Door, who sometimes crosses our field to get to the woods.
Moomintroll and Mystic are on the front porch, and the sisters are inside sleeping.
The Corgis are alternating between lying in the damp and coming in to sleep, and the horses and donkeys are in the barn munching hay after a night out on the pasture.
It's such a quiet day in this moment. The only sound is my typing.
It's rare for all the creatures who live here, including the humans, to be so quiet all at once.
Now if we can get more as the day goes on.
Dickens is hunkered down at the base of a tree in the front field. I'm not sure if he's guarding something he caught, monitoring something he's chased up the tree, or posting himself as a deterrent to the Cat Next Door, who sometimes crosses our field to get to the woods.
Moomintroll and Mystic are on the front porch, and the sisters are inside sleeping.
The Corgis are alternating between lying in the damp and coming in to sleep, and the horses and donkeys are in the barn munching hay after a night out on the pasture.
It's such a quiet day in this moment. The only sound is my typing.
It's rare for all the creatures who live here, including the humans, to be so quiet all at once.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
marines using mules and donkeys in afghanistan
My friend and fellow blogger Kyle (visit his wonderful blog Metaphor) just posted the following in a comment on the War Horse post:
The Marines are using mules and donkeys to haul weapons and stuff in Afghanistan. There was a story in today's LA Times about them training here in California. Call me a pacifist, but I think it's time we humans fought our battles - or learned how not to - without involving other species.
I so agree, Kyle, and I am horrified. Who does one complain to about THIS?
The Marines are using mules and donkeys to haul weapons and stuff in Afghanistan. There was a story in today's LA Times about them training here in California. Call me a pacifist, but I think it's time we humans fought our battles - or learned how not to - without involving other species.
I so agree, Kyle, and I am horrified. Who does one complain to about THIS?
more july
This was a photo my son took last week that I saved for another look at July. This is Osage, aka Muffine Eloise, aka Muffiane, aka The Princess. You wouldn't guess it by their appearances OR their personalities, but she, Dickens E. Wickens, and Keats are full siblings.
She can often be found lying on her back on the lounge chair on our deck, or curled up in a sink somewhere inside the house. On the day the photo was taken, she had just had a Close Encounter of the Donkey Kind with young Redford, and decided, as cats will, that she liked being in a position of power, higher up on the fence.
I just found a wonderful quote over at Fjordwoman's blog. It expresses much of what I've been feeling lately:
A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
-Albert Einstein
She can often be found lying on her back on the lounge chair on our deck, or curled up in a sink somewhere inside the house. On the day the photo was taken, she had just had a Close Encounter of the Donkey Kind with young Redford, and decided, as cats will, that she liked being in a position of power, higher up on the fence.
I just found a wonderful quote over at Fjordwoman's blog. It expresses much of what I've been feeling lately:
A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
-Albert Einstein
Monday, July 06, 2009
horsekeeping update
I missed doing my trim notes post last week, and since there are a few new things going on in my equine routine I'm going to combine it all here. I've found that blogging about these things not only gives me the chance to think it all through as I type, but I can easily look back and track my own notes/thinking. I keep notes on my barn calendar too but they are short and sweet, and on the blog I tend to get more long-winded!
So, trim notes:
Keil Bay looked good, as did the pony. Salina is starting to shed some sole, Rafer Johnson looked good, and Redford had a tiny bit of thrush in his hinds. Cody was the problem child this time around - he was a bit tender and had some redness, which B. felt might be due to sugars in grass.
Cody has never had an issue with this, but given the absence of rain for the previous two weeks, the grass was stressed, and when that happens, the sugars rise. And we had been lax about closing the gates during "off-pasture" hours - so in effect he was getting more of a highly-stressed forage. This coincided with the flu bug and no riding. Which probably resulted in the tenderness.
We decided to take the pony and Cody both off the pasture for the rest of last week. They spent the nights in the dirt paddock and the arena, where there is a little bit of nibbling to be done, but not much, with hay nets hung in several places so they could nibble, walk, eat some hay, walk, etc.
The pony was not happy with this arrangement but he lost a little weight and Cody is much better. Now that it's rained some, daughter has resumed riding, and he's not sore, things should be back to normal, but we're keeping an eye on him. A grazing muzzle is a possibility if we need to plug that in.
Now that everyone is doing pretty well hoof-wise, I've decided to add in a new routine that I hope will help us stay on this track. A number of hoof gurus, including our trimmer, have said that thoroughly cleaning the hooves once a week can be a simple but effective way to maintain hoof health. So I went to the Dollar Store last week and bought the very simple supplies: a bottle of plain blue Dawn dishwashing liquid (I'm not altogether thrilled about that, but am trying to stay economical and simple - will tweak this later if needed), a nice scrub brush - fits my hand, good size for use on hooves, etc., and a big tube of Desitin for babies' butts.
The recommended routine is to thoroughly pick the hooves, then use the scrub brush and a bit of Dawn liquid to scrub the bottom of the hoof completely. Rinse with clean water, check for anything that still needs to be picked out, and then dry with a clean cloth. Apply the Desitin to the frog area as a barrier cream.
An optional step that would come before the Desitin ointment - if there is thrush in any deeper crevices, press cotton balls into the crevices and then apply one or a mixture of a number of essential oils: lavender, tea tree, oregano, etc.
Right now I'm really trying to get the frogs to not only remain healthy but grow, and I'd like to see if this helps.
I've got the hay analyzed and minerals balanced now, and everyone is on what I'm thinking will be their ongoing "base" diets wrt feed. Keil Bay and Salina are on the senior diets, the pony and donkeys are on the balanced cubes, and Cody gets his own mixture. They're all doing well - and while I'm still working on the overall mineral balance and still need to test our pasture and water, we've made progress.
I need to get a fish scale so I can weigh hay - we feed free choice but I'd like to weigh what they are getting so I can see how close they are to my calculations.
Otherwise, I've also just added in glucosamine and chondroitin for Salina and Keil Bay. I did not give them their Adequan injections in May, as I wanted to see what their baseline is on the complete senior diet. Keil is not showing any change (i.e. no visible stiffness) and Salina is seeming generally stiffer with no joint supplementation, which makes sense, given her age and knees.
Based on my class notes and research studies, I've decided to add in the two joint supplements orally, dosed by weight, and see how much improvement I see by the fall. Interestingly, the purest and least expensive powders are human grade, available in bulk online, and I am supplementing ONLY the two things I want to supplement. I couldn't find any equine version that had the two things I wanted w/o other things added in - and the human grade versions are actually much cheaper!
Once I get a clear idea of what this is doing for my two seniors, I can make my way 'up the ladder' of options as needed to get the best results for each horse.
So far this summer I'm seeing horses that are more resistant to insect bites, more resilient in the heat, improving hooves, shiny soft coats, and overall good health.
I'm also seeing a reduction in the house/stable fly population after two double batches of fly predators in a row, and we have also seen a noticeable decrease in fire ant mounds this year. Don't know if the ongoing application of DE to the mounds is what worked, or if the conditions have changed in general, but it's been a welcome shift from the past two summers.
So, trim notes:
Keil Bay looked good, as did the pony. Salina is starting to shed some sole, Rafer Johnson looked good, and Redford had a tiny bit of thrush in his hinds. Cody was the problem child this time around - he was a bit tender and had some redness, which B. felt might be due to sugars in grass.
Cody has never had an issue with this, but given the absence of rain for the previous two weeks, the grass was stressed, and when that happens, the sugars rise. And we had been lax about closing the gates during "off-pasture" hours - so in effect he was getting more of a highly-stressed forage. This coincided with the flu bug and no riding. Which probably resulted in the tenderness.
We decided to take the pony and Cody both off the pasture for the rest of last week. They spent the nights in the dirt paddock and the arena, where there is a little bit of nibbling to be done, but not much, with hay nets hung in several places so they could nibble, walk, eat some hay, walk, etc.
The pony was not happy with this arrangement but he lost a little weight and Cody is much better. Now that it's rained some, daughter has resumed riding, and he's not sore, things should be back to normal, but we're keeping an eye on him. A grazing muzzle is a possibility if we need to plug that in.
Now that everyone is doing pretty well hoof-wise, I've decided to add in a new routine that I hope will help us stay on this track. A number of hoof gurus, including our trimmer, have said that thoroughly cleaning the hooves once a week can be a simple but effective way to maintain hoof health. So I went to the Dollar Store last week and bought the very simple supplies: a bottle of plain blue Dawn dishwashing liquid (I'm not altogether thrilled about that, but am trying to stay economical and simple - will tweak this later if needed), a nice scrub brush - fits my hand, good size for use on hooves, etc., and a big tube of Desitin for babies' butts.
The recommended routine is to thoroughly pick the hooves, then use the scrub brush and a bit of Dawn liquid to scrub the bottom of the hoof completely. Rinse with clean water, check for anything that still needs to be picked out, and then dry with a clean cloth. Apply the Desitin to the frog area as a barrier cream.
An optional step that would come before the Desitin ointment - if there is thrush in any deeper crevices, press cotton balls into the crevices and then apply one or a mixture of a number of essential oils: lavender, tea tree, oregano, etc.
Right now I'm really trying to get the frogs to not only remain healthy but grow, and I'd like to see if this helps.
I've got the hay analyzed and minerals balanced now, and everyone is on what I'm thinking will be their ongoing "base" diets wrt feed. Keil Bay and Salina are on the senior diets, the pony and donkeys are on the balanced cubes, and Cody gets his own mixture. They're all doing well - and while I'm still working on the overall mineral balance and still need to test our pasture and water, we've made progress.
I need to get a fish scale so I can weigh hay - we feed free choice but I'd like to weigh what they are getting so I can see how close they are to my calculations.
Otherwise, I've also just added in glucosamine and chondroitin for Salina and Keil Bay. I did not give them their Adequan injections in May, as I wanted to see what their baseline is on the complete senior diet. Keil is not showing any change (i.e. no visible stiffness) and Salina is seeming generally stiffer with no joint supplementation, which makes sense, given her age and knees.
Based on my class notes and research studies, I've decided to add in the two joint supplements orally, dosed by weight, and see how much improvement I see by the fall. Interestingly, the purest and least expensive powders are human grade, available in bulk online, and I am supplementing ONLY the two things I want to supplement. I couldn't find any equine version that had the two things I wanted w/o other things added in - and the human grade versions are actually much cheaper!
Once I get a clear idea of what this is doing for my two seniors, I can make my way 'up the ladder' of options as needed to get the best results for each horse.
So far this summer I'm seeing horses that are more resistant to insect bites, more resilient in the heat, improving hooves, shiny soft coats, and overall good health.
I'm also seeing a reduction in the house/stable fly population after two double batches of fly predators in a row, and we have also seen a noticeable decrease in fire ant mounds this year. Don't know if the ongoing application of DE to the mounds is what worked, or if the conditions have changed in general, but it's been a welcome shift from the past two summers.
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