A brief catch up

I know I haven't posted much lately. I've stayed so busy, I don't see how I ever managed having a full time job.

For one thing, we replaced the pool that was here when we moved in. The new one is smaller. We had built a fenced area for the dog, reachable by a dog door in the utility room. It was nice knowing that if we didn't get home for a while, Sadie could go out on her own. However, we fenced up to the pool. The smaller pool meant we had a three foot gap in the fence. She enjoyed 2 weeks of free roaming and it seemed harmless enough. Two dogs from across the road are always out and they had a good time.

Until they attacked a neighbor's dog. Pack behavior. Although Sadie has never liked this other dog, the two of them used to glare at each other and leave it at that. But all three of them jumped on this on this poor dog. It was on the holiday weekend. When we saw how badly her shoulder was torn, we told the owner to take her to a vet, that we would pay. The people who own the other 2 dogs were in the hospital, having their first baby.

We split the emergency vet bill when they got back. It was not cheap. And now I can't run my dog at all, even though I have a lot of land. Once they are settled in with the new baby, I'm going to ask them to pen their dogs up sometimes so Sadie can run without a pack, but they need a little time. I remember how overwhelming a first baby can be. Meanwhile, I'm taking my dog for long walks daily, but I used to let her run at least once a day. She misses it.

I'm reading manuscripts in a hurry. We got behind. I didn't get the most recent batch until last Tuesday and they have to be read in a week. That's 150 pages/day.

I joined some Meetup writing groups. I don't know if they have Meetup in the UK. It's an online site for finding interest groups of many kinds in most cities. I'm going to one today, a novelling group. Not sure how this is going to work out. It's huge. 29 people. The coordinator set the maximum at 7 pages. I'm bringing 4, since the next logical break in the piece is at 8 pages. I'm also bringing a zucchini bread. It's a potluck, at somebody's house. Not close to here, but oh well.

Trying to make prototypes for starting a confection website. I'm concentrating on glazed, dipped fruits and some truffles to begin with. Have to weigh, price, cost everything, etc. I know how to make lots of sweets, but not all are practical for shipping. Small confections don't weigh much and I think I can get away with ordering two sizes of boxes.

How does the Slightly Odd Confection Company sound to you folks. Intriguing? A turnoff? WHat would you expect from a name like that?

And trying to do some studio work. And writing. And scratch cooking and baking, which is both cheaper and better. Haven't bought bread in a while. It keeps getting pricier and airier. And gardening.

And walking the dog again. She's bored.