Creatures of Habit

There are a lot of things to like about living with dogs. This morning, when I walked into the living room, MaryEllen was standing up on the couch. A dog that big standing up on a couch is a funny sight. Rose, chasing Deseo is also a funny sight, though today I did my best to discourage that, since it gets a little dicey feeling when you are in a small paddock with a horse who wants to come near you to get the treats you've got, while the dog tries to chase the horse into your lap. No one needs a horse in their lap.

Rose and MaryEllen are the sweetest dogs. They're huge but calm, affectionate and mostly very well-behaved. The only one who gives me any trouble around feeding time is the 4 cats who are really supposed to be catching their own dinner here rather than yelling at me for more kibble.

What I'm liking most about living with them now, though, is the way they anchor my days. You all know about the staying up until 2 or 3AM and I've reverted to that now that I'm back from Tomales (okay, I also stayed up until 2AM at Tomales, even though workshops started at 9), so obviously I can get a little wacky with the schedule when left to my own devices. So it's nice to have this one little routine, getting the horses water, and the dogs food every day. I do the water close to the end of the day, before the sun goes down, and then the dogs and cats get fed at 6. The time between when I wake up and when I feed the dogs is used for specific things, though it changes a little every day. I always make myself breakfast. I always do some kind of writing in the morning. The rest of the time is spent on maybe a walk, maybe a trip to town for the mail, and whatever little chores I've decided I'm going to do that day. Cleaning the floors is a big one. You can't go more than a few days if you don't want the dog hair to be recycled in the form of wolfhound-sized dust bunnies.

After I feed the dogs, I'll often do email, then make myself some dinner a little later. There's a lot of knitting that happens after about 8PM. I'm almost done with a sweater I'm making for myself, out of yarn I bought on my first trip to Durango. If it comes out even close to okay, I'll post a photo here. There are a lot of mistakes in it due to my "modifications" from the original pattern (I didn't use the intended yarn, and I used waffle stitch instead of stockinette) but I think I'm going to like it anyway.

I've been slowing down here on the blog entries, can you tell? My other writing is pulling me away, and of course that's a good thing. I'll still try to post every couple days though. Now that you know my habits here, even if I don't, you'll be to picture life at the ranch now, won't you?

XOXO
H