First, an update: Lo and behold, I wrote new scenes for my book
today. Thank Dog for that. I spent the morning reviewing my (quite good)
notes and then dove in. The hardest thing about picking up the pieces
is starting to do it. But you know, all you have to do is pick up
the first one and suddenly you realize that you can pick the others up,
too. Hopefully, today's activity gave me enough of a nudge to get me
going. Tomorrow will tell the tale (or rather, I will if all goes well).
But because I've been writing, all I can muster for you, my precious
bloggies, is a tale or two from my backyard.
Milo, the finest goose in the world - and the leader of the finest flock in the world - lives in my backyard and hangs out on the pond. (It may also be true that I have the finest pond in the world. I'm not sure about that.)
I used to feed Milo's flock but it kind of got away from me. At one point, I was feeding over 200 geese out there. That's a lotta feed and I couldn't afford it, so I stopped. The geese were horrified. How dare the human stop feeding us! Milo kept coming up to me and haranguing me in his cute, hissing voice, but I wouldn't budge.
On the other hand, I did toss out tons of peanuts for the squirrels, the groundhog (if that's what it is) and the crows, chipmunks and bluejays. Milo was incensed. He kept coming over and nosing the peanuts around - but he didn't know what to do with them. They weren't food, as far as he could tell.
Well, last week Milo learned how to open a peanut and then he taught the flock how to do it. So now when I toss peanuts out, everyone, including the geese, comes running. Milo looks very proud as he opens his peanuts. And he should be. He developed a new skill all on his own. It was fun to see it spread throughout the flock.
One final note. I was out there tossing peanuts the other day, when I noticed something new. The groundhog was standing on his hind legs, casually chomping on a peanut, a mere five feet from me. He always ran from me in the past. I think I have a new friend. Very nice!
But starting to write again is way better than having a new friend. Have any of you succeeded lately in doing something that you put off for a long time? Do tell in the comments. We want to hear all about it.
And hooray! I'm writing again.
Milo, the finest goose in the world - and the leader of the finest flock in the world - lives in my backyard and hangs out on the pond. (It may also be true that I have the finest pond in the world. I'm not sure about that.)
I used to feed Milo's flock but it kind of got away from me. At one point, I was feeding over 200 geese out there. That's a lotta feed and I couldn't afford it, so I stopped. The geese were horrified. How dare the human stop feeding us! Milo kept coming up to me and haranguing me in his cute, hissing voice, but I wouldn't budge.
On the other hand, I did toss out tons of peanuts for the squirrels, the groundhog (if that's what it is) and the crows, chipmunks and bluejays. Milo was incensed. He kept coming over and nosing the peanuts around - but he didn't know what to do with them. They weren't food, as far as he could tell.
Well, last week Milo learned how to open a peanut and then he taught the flock how to do it. So now when I toss peanuts out, everyone, including the geese, comes running. Milo looks very proud as he opens his peanuts. And he should be. He developed a new skill all on his own. It was fun to see it spread throughout the flock.
One final note. I was out there tossing peanuts the other day, when I noticed something new. The groundhog was standing on his hind legs, casually chomping on a peanut, a mere five feet from me. He always ran from me in the past. I think I have a new friend. Very nice!
But starting to write again is way better than having a new friend. Have any of you succeeded lately in doing something that you put off for a long time? Do tell in the comments. We want to hear all about it.
And hooray! I'm writing again.
