last night and early this morning we began clawing our way out of the near record breaking lows we've been experiencing for the past several days. thank goodness!!! today we should crest somewhere in the 40's and into the 50's perhaps later this week. the low's of 7 and 9 caused havoc with several people's water pipes around here. fortunately we weren't one of them. the good news is that even with the really cold weather it was mostly sunny. just hard to get terribly motivated if it's grim, gray and cold outside.

like a lot of people on these blog type sites i am a frustrated writer. i've got the outline, plot and ending in my head and on paper, but the dialog and transitions between scenes and charactors are pretty awful. rats. it gets discouraging, and then i think, let's give it another shot, so i'll be writing like mad, making changes here and there and in general taking 1 step forward and about 9 or 10 back. i've got to try to quite editing the stuff and just get the whole blasted thng written, start to finish, then begin the process of editing. i know this but it's not what i end up doing. sigh.

dogs. we are overrun with them. what started out as a cute, abused abandoned puppy has morphed into generations of new puppies. we aren't responible pet owners. we haven't gotten the dog spaded and are instead drowning in more unwanted dogs. the only responsible thing we've done is keeping them up on their shots and feeding them, warm places in the winter, cooler spots in the summer with plenty of shade and water. perhaps with the children gone the tendency to 'just keep this one' out of each litter will come to an abrupt halt. we have managed to give away the bulk of the puppies, but there have been other strays who've landed here and stayed way past their welcome. at the moment there are 5 dogs and a wolf. don't ask.