So once again my writing has taken the back seat. Sigh … … … . What’s a girl gonna do when she and her family celebrate her 69th birthday, our 32 anniversary, husband’s vacation (to avoid the madness of the DNC), and subsequent return to the grind. But Bob and I did have 9 days of absolute bliss here at the farmhouse. Bob enjoys ‘projecting’ around the ranch and I appreciate that because things are always breaking or bending and need his attention.

We stay up to watch TV programs we don’t otherwise watch during the week. The Lords of TVdom fail to consider the working folk when they put new and prime programs beginning at 10:00 p.m. Good grief do they think everyone on the east coast stays up until eleven … or later. Our best TV watching was when we lived in the Central Time Zone. Going to bed at 10ish would be doable a couple of evenings a week but 11ish is out of the question. Of course we were younger back then and didn’t think as much about getting sleep as we do now. A restful sleep is magic and a requirement.

With all that being said, the programs we watched weren’t all that great … but we stayed up anyway because we knew we could sleep in the next morning. (This in and of itself is a guilty-pleasure ah … but without the guilt.) The thing about staying up late is two-fold: first, we could for the first time this season watch shows that the promotional teasers had convinced us to watch. Of those shows, Longmire was the only winner in my book. It’s about time the western genre came back into vogue. Naturally, Vegas, the other western-themed program, will more than likely come on way past our bedtime.

Second, watching shows that late in the evening allows us more time to lounge around with the dogs. Our absolute bliss is curling up with the dogs on the sofas after dinner. Well, most of us curl up; two or three of us tends to get a game on in the living room. There’s chasing and running, and barking, and growing, and more chasing and jumping from one sofa to the other. Sounds like a uproar doesn’t it. Well believe it or not, Bob and I are in the middle of all this ruckus. But when it gets too wild, and it usually does because everyone is having so much fun, we put the skids on jumping and growling. Hopefully by then, they’re tired and are ready to curl up and nap on the sofas with us. If not, they’re little tushes go outside to continue the games.  ( I wish WordPress had spell check.)

Our four dogs are as close to grand children as we’re gonna get. (Yes, we have talked to the Son about this but … enough said about this.) All are rescues from either German Shorthaired Pointer Rescue or Boxer Rescue. Three GSPs and one boxer are our compliment of family or pack, if you prefer.

Back in 2000 when we bought the ranch, we jumped on this place because the bedroom had enough room for four dog crates. For this reason, we will always have four rescue dogs, for sure GSPs and probably one boxer. The ranch came with a boxer that the previous owners couldn’t catch so they left her behind. She had lived outside for three years and had been uncatchable for the past two years. Huh, I took care of that. Within 6 weeks, Ms. Gretta was living inside the house with us; winter was coming on and no dog around me was living outside. Liverwurst was my persuader of choice. One of these days I”ll write about her capture because is was a memorable day … the way she came into the house and the way the GSPs welcomed her was tender and loving. I was amazed at the dog’s responses to each other. What loving critters.

As a writer I must learn to write even during busy times. I do find that I need to be alone so I CAN write without distraction. I love my husband with all my life but when he wakes up and gets up with me, I just can’t/won’t let myself go write because I’d rather be with him. I’ll work on slinking into the office when he’s outside or otherwise working on a project and won’t miss me.

Like I said, it’s been busy over here.