A Sea Goat at the Backyard Zoo

“If we wait until our lives are free from sorrow or difficulty, then we wait forever. And miss the entire point.” - Dirk Benedict

The funny (ironic, not ha-ha) thing about Dirk Benedict is that, despite having been portrayed as quite shallow in his most popular roles (Starbuck, back when Starbuck was a man and Templeton "Faceman" Peck in the A-Team) he's pretty darn deep. I've read his books and a lot of other stuff he's written. I'm impressed.

Anyway... moving away from my obvious adulation of the man...

The last few days have been odd in several ways (and I thought I couldn't write poetry). So, I thought I'd check out my horoscope and see if can tell me why.

From Yahoo:

Quickie:
Put aside all the cutting-edge technology in your life and get back to basics today.

LOL! My "cutting-edge technology"? Too funny. While I do admit to having TiVo, that's the closest thing to "cutting edge" I own. I don't have text messaging on my decidedly antiquated phone (I also don't have a camera phone). I don't own an iPod. My computer is ancient, and the monitor even older. Even my car has 250,000 miles on it (but still runs like a charm thanks to Toyota and my DH).

Okay, so I'll pull out a notepad and write with a pen. How's that?

From AskOracle:

Slow progress on the more enjoyable aspects of your life can ease the pressure of work today. If you have been sincerely applying yourself on the job, you'll finally be able to reap the benefits by taking some time off. Don't try to talk yourself out of it. Just say "no" to the extra chores; they'll wait until tomorrow.

Woo Hoo! No vacuuming today!

Seriously, I have been seriously applying myself to my writing the past couple of days, and finally have that whole switch from first to third person thing accomplished. I think. I'll have to go over it one last time to see if I missed anything. I was horrified yesterday when I printed the "done" version out and found many, many "I", "me", "us", "myself" words that I'd completely overlooked. Usually in the middle of a sentence I'd fixed so it would read something like:

She walked down the street, tugging at my earlobe while she...

It would have been funny if I hadn't been so annoyed.

And last, but certainly not least, Humorscope:

More trouble with that annoying "bluebird of happiness" today. With any luck, the cat will get it.

Finally! One that actually makes sense.

You know, I really like using Humorscope as a writing prompt. In fact, the last piece I wrote using one, "Life in the Details" was recently rejected by an editor. I guess she didn't appreciate the warped sense of humor that was displayed in this piece. Now I just need to find another market and send it back out, because I really like it. Who wouldn't like a story about a toilet plunger? Come on.

Once again, my backyard is wildlife central. Monday, while the squirrels were happily feeding on the bird feeder (there were three or four of them), a shadow appeared on the ground. They scattered just as a huge, beautiful red-tailed hawk appeared and landed on the lowest branch of the tree.

The funny thing was that on the front of the tree and about a foot over his head was a red squirrel, and behind the tree and about six inches away from the hawk was another one. They held as still as a rock and I could almost hear their thoughts, "You don't see me, I'm not here." Do you suppose squirrels have The Force? Because the hawk up and flew away without lunch.

So, this year we've seen a fox and a hawk at the "all-you-can-eat" buffet out back. A bat on my deck. A huge herd of deer. We also have a bear and a fisher cat that I'm sure we'll have the privilege of seeing at some point (especially if I forget to bring my feeders in at night in the summer). It's kind of cool having our own private zoo.

Have a great day!