Baron and Lark have started playing. The house may not survive, but it's a treat to watch--as long as you have a safe vantage point, or have tough feet and shins. Mine are all scraped up currently--happened somehow when Gan floored me, not sure how--and I practically want to stand on a chair. But it's hilarious. He's huge, and she's tiny--and he's really gentle. She, of course, is typical Fury, and it warms my heart to see her chewing on someone who doesn't feel it. Oh, for fur. Lark take immense unfair advantage of her size during chases, though, whipping under tables and chairs and between people's legs. (Fortunately Baron doesn't get quite as carried away as he might, and backed out slowly before he knocked me over.) I think I'm going to have to stick the two of them in the paddock for awhile every day, so they can do this full speed, whatever that may be. I'll have to clear Stein and Meathead out, though--just moved Stein in this afternoon, so we can give him alfalfa without everyone getting it (he's not feeling well-just weak and languid--no diarrhea) and Gan knocked me down when everyone was following the alfalfa (me). Flat on my back, all of a sudden. Grr. He backed off when I collected my little tin tub, which had contained hay a minute ago, and started swinging it at him and screaming. Dad sent the backup out as soon as he saw me out there sitting on the ground, and Peter knocked him around for me. Now I just have to wait for my bruised behind and jarred back to heal....and we're going to B's to help with some immense task tomorrow. With a concert afterwards. Nobody's told her what we think about the concert, and everybody can use some cash from the work, but....

Lark's nagging me to come to bed, and I haven't done the floor yet.

eye candy

This site. Such lovely large dogs. But, sheesh, when I first found it it didn't have half as much fancy-shmancy code stuff. It was info and photos. It was not video (much) or animations or frames or links to their talk radio interviews.

Smear brought Madison over last night. Madison's her four-year-old niece, and I'd never met her before. Turns out she's devastatingly cute. She's dark, like Smear and, I think, her mother. She likes dogs and cats but is perfectly willing to watch them without going and picking them up or something. And she wholeheartedly supports Sarah in the plan to buy one of the kittens.

I'm reading Elizabeth Peters' mysteries right now. They're very good: style, humour, and romance. I can ignore a little suspense, with all that going for 'em. She does insert a little irritating feminism now and then, but I can live with it, because she's hilarious. She does eccentric older females wonderfully. Most of the one-offs star nice young heroines, but she has three series going: Jacqueline Kirby, a middle-aged ex-librarian from Coldwater College in Nebraska (Peters is very cruel about us); Vicky Bliss, a statuesque young art historian in Munich (with a brother-filled Midwestern farm background: gotta wonder where Peters grew up--or not); and Amelia Peabody, a (I think) middle-aged Egyptologist about whom I don't know much because I haven't read nay of those yet.

We've got half the North Pasture fenced, enough so we don't need to herd, but those ridiculous sheep still come and stand wistfully at the gate around seven p.m. You'd think they liked being herded. Doug says it's 'cause they're masochists. I probably could do a little disorganized herding on my own; I can handle the sheep on my own, it's only when the goats were added that the boys joined in. Actually I had the wethers out last night while the boys were busy. I would have added the big 'uns if they'd come, but they would have taken too much persuasion and the goats were lurking. I refuse to herd goats alone, sheep or no sheep.

Lark is growing apace, and we may almost have the flea problem under control. Gonna have to change my sheets today. She's testing boundaries lately, in the form of the road. Sigh. It was nice when we didn't have to watch her every second. I still can't believe how cute she is.

And Mom's making us write four-page science papers. Doug hasn't chosen a subject yet, but, in a spur-of-the-moment decision made in the library stacks, I'm writing about coyotes. I'm probably going to die, but I won't know of what until I get started.

Oh, dear. This guy can write. Satire, satire.....

Well, I finally got around to going over and chatting with Christy, for the first time since she had the baby. I never really got up the nerve, before. Anyway, his name's Dylan, and he just had his first birthday. He's not walking yet, and can just crawl. Chubby little blond. It was driving me nuts, not knowing his name. Mike came home while I was talking to Christy. I'm always going to wonder just what he thinks of us, but I suppose we're lucky he tolerates us. Some people would complain to the village the first time a goat crossed the street.

I didn't summon sufficient gall to ask whether they're married. Never will. One of the boys said I certainly would've when I was five; maybe it's a pity that was ten years ago....

And to continue the theme of readerly indignation, that evil sadistic sorceress over at Days in the Life has posted an excerpt from her latest book, Chalice, just in case there was the faintest chance in five universes that any of her readers weren't going to stalk their local booksellers, or equivalent, for the next. . . .thirty-eight days until it's released. That's what really gets me: that she could have the cruelty to do that when there's this much time left. If it were the day before, or three days, or a week, okay. But five weeks?! It's reader abuse!

Siiiiiiigh............

Okay. So I'm reading W-Juliet II. The last two volumes of W-Juliet were finally scanned, I devoured them both, and we all breath a sigh of relief at getting through fourteen volumes. W-J II is, in the mangaka's words, dessert. Okay. So Makoto, who's taking the big-pay jobs so he and Ito can have a proper wedding ceremony and a honeymoon (they're registered but haven't had a ceremony), has been cast as the male lead in this adaptation of a "novel". AND IT JUST SO HAPPENS THAT THIS "NOVEL" IS A MANGA BY THE SAME BLOODY MANGAKA!! OF COURSE THE WRITER WROTE THE CHARACTER WITH HIM IN MIND!!! AND HE'S DOING A MOVIE AND I HAVEN'T EVEN READ CHAPTER FIVE YET, BECAUSE IT'S NOT SCANNED!! *&%($(%(&%(&%!!!!!

That's better. It's funny, but the sheer nerve....