Happy Birthday, Mom and Jerry

My mom and brother share a January 31 birthday, just as my dad and I shared June 10. 

Here's wishing you both lots of love and many more birthdays.

Blogging in the afternoon seemed like a good idea at the time, but it apparently doesn't work for me.  By three p.m., my brain has switched from writer mode to wall-staring mode, since I'm basically a morning person.

I'm well and I'm hard at work on the new book, and I just wanted to let you know that we're plugging along here on the Triple L.  Bernicie and I even got a walk in yesterday--the air was so wonderfully fresh--stepping around mud puddles and the occasional stubborn patch of ice.  She doesn't even slow down from the moment she sees me put on my boots--it's Hallelujah Day for her.  Lots of yapping follows, and I have to remind her to stand still so I can hook on her collar and leash, and then we're off, out the door, into the big, wide world.

It's wicked slick around the barn, so the Canadian Wrangler made trails leading from the outside doors of the stalls with old shavings, making sure the old Buckaroo wouldn't slip on the ice.  Traveler, the little pinto, doesn't step sedately out of his stall of a morning, like the gentleman he isn't.  :)  He thinks he's the Wabash Cannonball.  Banjo has a Seabiscuit complex, and only the ladies, Coco, Skye and April, use any common sense at all.  Coco, as the eldest mare, is the leader of the band, but everybody defers to Buck, out there in his muddy green coat.

The weather was sunny when I got up, but now it's mildly overcast.

The jury's still out on whether or not Bernicie and I will get our walk, but I'm thinking probably.

See you tomorrow.    

Still Iced In

Bernicie and I took a short walk yesterday--she was barreling along, on the trails of passing turkeys and coyotes and deer, while I picked my way cautiously from dry patch to dry patch.  :)  The fresh air was good for both of us and the weather, as I mentioned, was beautiful.  More sunshine today--I can't get enough of it.

I'm working on the new book, and making some real progress, so I'll be switching the blog-writing from the mornings to the afternoons, when I have my pages done.

See you then.

Take Cover, I May Sing

One of the songs from the musical, "Oklahoma", is running through my mind this morning--"Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh, what a beautiful day..."

The sun is brilliant in a blue sky--this despite the fact that there is more snow on the way--and the driveway looks treacherous.  We are "iced in", I think, the kitties, Bernice and I.  And that's okay, because all I want to do today is write.  :)

A happy-birthday shout out to the Canadian Wrangler, Larry.  (I won't say how old he is.)  January is a heavy birthday month in our outfit--my sister Pam, cousin and trail boss Mary Ann, her husband Larry, my mother and my brother all celebrate within a few days of each other. 

The wild turkeys have been passing through, and I've spotted coyote tracks on my walks with Bernice, but our moose visitor has not been back.  (I like seeing him from a disance.)

Off to write.  Have a good day.

Feeling Considerably Better

We even have sunshine today, though it's very cold and the roads are too slick for Bernicie and I to go for our walk.  Maybe later--we took a short one yesterday, and she was practically bounding along, while I picked my cautious way between patches of ice.  There were four turkeys in the neighbors' driveway, but I don't think she even noticed them.  :)  She's old, and doesn't see that well, methinks.  We met another dog at the top of the driveway--a portly and elderly gray-muzzled black lab.  He was quite benign, and gave a half-hearted woof at the sight of us--translation: 'this is my part of the road so watch it'.  I smiled and we turned and went the other way.  Bernice had her nose to the ground and was either unfazed by the old gentleman or never knew he was there. 

I'm especially eager to get into the book, but I'm not very speedy.  :)  Not sick anymore, just a little flimsy and fragile.  (OK, whiny.)

Now for the comments:  Thanks, all of you, for the kind words.  And Jessica, in response to your post--I would LOVE to see the McKettricks in a TV movie or better yet, a series.  Wouldn't that be great????  There was some interest in such a project at one point, but nothing more was said.  The movie/TV business is like that--I think my friend Josanne spent something like five years getting "Last Chance Cafe" on Lifetime.  Nothing happens and nothing happens and then one fine day, the phone call comes in and it's Nellie-bar-the-door.

Hope springs eternal.

And now, to work.



 

Slathered in Vicks

I have a cold today and I'm laying low.

Back soon.