The Hiatus

After about a month's hiatus, I'm back at my desk and ready to return to the literary side of work.

I was fired up and ready to start reading, writing and catching up on much missed content, when I was pounced by a migraine in the middle of last night, leaving me off to a late start.  But, late is better than  not at all.

2012 took a turn that I wasn't expecting, in the loss of two of my best buddies in Texas.  Jack, a border collie, and my constant shadow during my hours at home, and Checkmate, my sugar glider, that I've had since he was just weaned.  Jack was 11-years-old.  Checkmate would have been 10 this Spring.

Jack, with his favorite toy.

For some of us, loosing a pet is no small thing to endure.  And, that being said, I'd like to extend my sincere thanks to McGuyver (Jonathan Hall) and Jared and Luke Hall (of the Muscle Next Door) when it came time to bury my two friends.  When Jack died, I'd come down with the flu, and if it weren't for the guys, I might still be trying to dig a burial spot in the back yard for him.  I still wasn't quite recovered when Checkmate died two weeks later, and I'm thankful Lukas came to lend a hand in digging a grave for him as well. 

Jade, my love bird, is doing fine and as happy as always, singing and playing all day long.  He's a funny little fella, and it's been good medicine to watch him dance and have him chirping twittering during the hours I'm at home.

Jack and Andrew Hall (of the Muscle Next Door),
taking a break from the fence project.

A few days before the flu hit, which was the worst upper respiratory infection I've had in five years, and lasted two weeks, I did manage to make my annual trek to the Fort Worth Stock Show.  I wasn't disappointed with it this year, but my appreciation for some of it had changed.  In particular, I discovered I disliked some of the rodeo competition.  Most of the rodeo events, I will probably continue to be a fan of, but this year, when watching the calf-roping competition, it came across as cruel and completely turned me off. 

A guy on a horse, chasing around a scared little calf until they throw a rope around it, run at it, tie it's legs together, and then throw it roughly on it's side .... yup, it was a turn off.

Checkmate, my sugar glider, peeking out of his teepee.

I can hear a red-neck voice with a defensive tone in my head saying, "Awww, it don't hurt 'em none!" 

Physically, that'd be correct, if the challenge comes out with no accidents.  But, terrorizing an animal just leaves a bad taste in my soul, whether physical injury occurs or not, and those participating in it just dropped out of my admiration zone.

The rest of the stock show was mostly as expected.  The displays were great and the animals were awesome.  But, for whatever reason, this year's attendance was lacking in activity.  Much of the stock competition hadn't arrived yet, and the carnival was set up, but not in operation, nor were many of the outside vendors' booths.

Regardless, the place was packed, and I visited on a week day.

Checkmate, hanging from the top of his cage.

I'll post an article regarding the event on Hubpages as soon as I recover from the migraine hangover.  I got to see some new stuff at the show this year, and met some interesting people.

My month's absence wasn't spent in an entirely vegetative state.  I managed to get a good amount of work done on one of my books.  I also read about ten from other authors.  Two were old friends, by Frank Peretti, and three more were newer works of his that I'd not read yet.  All of them are phenominal, and that's an understatement.  A more recent work of his is out now, titled, Illusion, and I plan to read it within the next two weeks.

Jade, my love bird, nipping my finger.
He's little, but he's a giant in his own mind. :)

That's it for the update.  Hope your new year is off to a good start, and that you're expecting good things to be coming your way.


My thanks to the Lethal Leprechaun for checking on me and the frequent prodding to get back to work.



God bless you, thank you for reading, and please don't forget to thank a Veteran today!

femme