Excuses, Excuses

Writer's block and a lack of time . . .

Excuses, excuses.  The posting that I started several days ago remains unfinished.  I need to buckle down and write, but there are always other things to be done, and I try to keep writing from becoming a chore.  Good thing I've never attempted to write as a career - life on the streets would be tough!

I'll be so glad when Fern is out of season.  Argus has been "good", no howling or frantic behavior, no digging at doors or destructive behavior of any kind, but he's not my dog right now and I want my dog back.  He walks around with a mournful expression, sometimes shaking, often talking to himself.  He KNOWS it is time to breed Fern, and he can't understand why I am being so stubborn.  Explaining that she is his granddaughter, and too young to breed anyway, is meaningless to him.  He only knows what his instincts tell him - that it's time to make puppies.  Sorry buddy.  Yesterday he went on a hunger strike, something he rarely does.  He nibbled a bit of chicken, and took a few treats, but would not eat his meals.  This morning I lost my patience and force fed him ground beef, rice & cooked kale.  It's a little messy, but only took a couple of minutes, and Watson was more than willing to clean up the crumbs.

Sunday is Coursing, and Argus, Josie and Meribel need to qualify just once more to get their coursing titles.  It will be cold and muddy, but I'm sure the girls won't mind and will run well despite the conditions.  Not so sure about Argus.  Will he run, or will he stop and sniff, looking for girls?  He ran well last time out, but was not distracted by "more important matters".  Wish I'd had a place to board Fern for the past week, but it was not to be.  So we'll hope once he gets away from home, he will forget about Fern for awhile.  In a few more days she will be going out of season, but of course it will take a few extra days to convince Argus of that.

Snowing, yet again.  Will it never end?