January is done for the year. It’s the last Monday in a month full of them. Tomorrow starts our shortest month. I’m not quite ready to look that far ahead though. So, in retrospect…

Stuff happened last week and over the weekend. Not much stuff, granted, but some stuff. Words–written and oral. Critters. Family time. Food. You know, the usual stuff. Let’s talk words for a moment. I’m up over 60K on the Boston Wolves. I got several good scenes done and then sort of stalled out for…reasons. Mostly dut to lack of sleep. We’ll get to that. At the moment, I’m heartened with the direction the story is taking, despite all the various threads. This sucker may turn out to be REALLY long. That presents pricing concerns. We’ll see that happens when I finally hit the end.

I think I’ve mentioned that Boone, my oldest pupper is…well, we aren’t exactly sure. It’s like he has dementia or something. He has trouble with his back legs–they sometimes are slow to respond and he’ll drag one or both feet until he gets them back under him–yet he tries to climb up on coffee tables, storage tubs, and other items while trying to force his way into corners, bookcases, and walls. It’s like he’s trying to find the protal to Narnia. We’ve rearranged, revamped, and tried to accomodate The vet says he’s just old. And he is. He’s 15 or 16 now. He was a rescue and we aren’t sure just how old he was. He’s also a BIG dog and the giant breeds don’t normally have long lives. We lost Cooper when he was only 9. Boone also follows us around, getting between us and things like desks, counters, the fridge. He’s a shadow glued so tightly that I often turn around and almost trip over him. He also knocks things off tables–phones, drinks, LG’s ashtrays. He’s not in pain. This goes on CONSTANTLY. Day. Night. It got to the point that LG and I took turns staying up all night to deal with him so the other could sleep. We’re now in the process of trying “calming” medications, including one with CBD as an ingredient. It works for awhile and we now get a few hours of respite at a time. Anyway, trying to get anything done with him constantly circling the desk chair or laying between the chair and the desk makes it hard to concentrate enough to write. It is what it is. We’ve had him since ’08 and he’s our old man. We’ll see him through.

In other critter news, we’re due another arctic blast midweek so I took advantage of the warm temps this weekend to add windbreaks to the shelter beds out on the bench o the front porch. So far, both have been used. There’s also and actual insulated cat house out there and the one feral who mostly hangs here uses it. The others come and go.

I have a dining room again. LG took over the dining room table when he retired. Our library (that’s a long story!) became the box storage room. He finally got stuff moved and sorted and put up and I moved my stuff out (like the sewing machine). Our old dining room table is now his desk and all his electronics and stuff are in there. Loki is baffled. He has a WHOLE table upon which to wander. I even put a vase with flowers and candlsticks out. The cat’s all WTF? He hasn’t seen a “clean” tabletop since he first arrived as a kitten. I also cleared out the last corner in my kitchen. The bread machine that hasn’t been used in over a year is up in the pantry and the backsplash is updated to match the one the one behind the sink. I feel so accomplished. 🙄

I guess I should mention Jake. Jake is Jake. He’s wonderful and I love him. He’s my good boy and travel/errand companion.

Okay, I sort of mentioned writing. I did some. I plan to do some more. HUNTER’S MOON came off KU last week and is now mostly wide through D2D. ROGUE MOON came off at midnight and it’s being uploaded this morning to go wide. That’s the last of my self-pubbeds. I’m wide now with everything but the Susan Stoker world books.

I finished off the Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews. Still not sure why I was resistent to reading them. Turned out to be a really fun series: a sentient B&B, magical innkeepers, space aliens, space vampires, and a hunky werewolf with alien DNA. Fun stuffs! Now I’m into the In Death series. New addition to the series coming out next week so I’m listening to a few favorites and then I’ll listen to the last couple releases to remind me of where we are in the story.

Stormy came after school Thursday. He and his Big Daddy played electronic Battleship and Uno, using the new Star Wars deck LG bought him. During dinner, Stormy explained to me all about shaped explosive charges and the difference between ANFO, TNT and C4. We were watching “Mythbusters” at the time. And he had seen that particular episode. The kid will be 8 next birthday. That’s all I’m gonna say. 🤣

On that note, it’s Monday, which means Wallyworld run and Starbucks with my “battle buddy” Jake. Then we’ll see what today brings. What about y’all? What stuff’s happening in your lives?