Steamy without the romance

Been trapped inside the house almost like winter -- stepping outside is like breathing soup. Glasses and camera lenses fog up immediately. Plus we've had a deer fly infestation for the past month -- they swarm, land in our hair and bite in the time it takes to walk from the house to the car. Both annoying and a danger -- they carry Tularemia, caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis, a potential bioterrorism agent, according to PubMed Health.

Miserable.

No more bull$%@#

Wow, time flies. Mostly there's not much to report -- and not much writing done. Back to juggling and piecing together an income, including by unloading some stuff on Ebay. As a child I amassed a collection of Breyer horses -- inexplicably among the sleek and stately equine models, one anatomically correct Hereford bull. Maybe I liked his benign expression. Anyway, he was the first to go. I received a lovely follow-up note from his buyer, who says he is the biggest bull in her herd. Better than the inside of a dusty box. I'm keeping my favorites but so far have made $60 on three models.

And teaching. And editing. And writing for a magazine. And applying for jobs. I'm determined to keep one day a week completely open for writing; that's worked once in the past three weeks. At least I got ahead during my stay at the writers' colonies...