Writing

"When ideas come, I write them down; when they don't come, I don't."
- William Faulkner

And unfortunately, none have come lately. No good ones, anyway. I would call it writers block but I don't know as though I actually qualify as a writer. Question: how do you know you have writers block? Answer: when the only thing you can think of to write about is writers block.

In an effort to work through my massive pile of recipes I've saved over the years I made a new dessert tonight. A "rustic" pear tart. It turned out decent enough although it could have been much better and I'll probably try it again when I have the correct type of pears - the ones I used were 1) not the right variety, and 2) much too ripe, resulting in a much soupier tart than I would have liked. So the final verdict: probably a keep recipe, but further testing is required before I can be 100% sure.

And what is new around here with the animals? Not a whole lot.

The chickens - well, Penny and Daisy, anyway - are molting and so are not laying any eggs for the time being... Sakari is not molting but she's not laying because she's on strike. Our chickens, it would seem, have unionized. But as they are valued for themselves and not simply for being egg dispensing machines they will continue to live with us as possibly the most spoiled chickens in the whole of the western hemisphere. Their current diet: corn, watermelon and - lately - grapes that they poach from the vines in my garden.

Rabbits: a bit annoyed at the lack of time out of their cages - I haven't had the heart to kick Kita out of the room the last couple days - but quite pleased with the 1.5 pounds of basil and bag full of carrot tops that we brought home from the farmers market on saturday.

As for the cats, Mynx has been spending time in Mom's room in the evening - very strange behavior for her - and Aspen has been refusing to come inside in the evenings until I bring out the tuna. Ornery cat.

The ducks are still demanding water every night at midnight and continue to enjoy their days outside - they are the only animals that are not upset by the rain, as they love water and don't seem to care in the least whether it's in their pools, comes from the sprinklers, or falls from the sky. Mud puddles are an endless source of amusement for them, although at times they look as though they've just come from a mud bath at the spa...

The dogs continue on much the same as always. Buddy gets up on the counter any chance he gets and balks at going out in the rain - as if we actually expect him to go to the bathroom outside even when it's wet: what kind of monsters are we?? Kita is looking a bit disheveled lately - trimming him takes longer than he has patience for so I have to do it in stages, with the result being that he looks somewhat patchy until I finish it completely. Maia sleeps with me in the evening, and in Mom's room during the day. I think she must log only about 45 minutes of time spent awake per day. Today Buddy was thrilled to discover that we were cutting up bell peppers - they are one of his favorite treats. That, along with broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, etc - how he came to love vegetables so much is beyond me. I'm a vegetarian and I don't even like most veggies. Maia continues to maintain her stance that Buddy and Kita are insane to eat anything that doesn't start with an "m" and end with "eat." Speaking of meat, while defrosting the freezer yesterday we came across a package of deer meat that was given to us by a "friend." As no one wanted to eat I decided to grill it up for the dogs. The most disgusting thing I've seen/smelled in a long time. Truly nauseating. Didn't seem to bother the dogs, though, as they managed to eat everything I gave them.