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Sunday, April 20th, 2008
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8:34 pm - Distracted by music
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No rain today. Lots of noise though. On the Brit side, he's sawing down trees like mad and grinding them up. Why I don't know. He just hates trees. On the other side, there were family visitors including little kids, several dogs, and someone's mother who sits on the front porch shouting into a cell phone all the time.
The fox spent much of the day sleeping in the same spot where I photographed her yesterday. In fact, we both wondered at first if she were dead. But she would lift her head up and look at us if we came within about 30 feet of her, so we left her alone. I don't know where she has the babies stashed, probably not in the same place we saw them yesterday I'm thinking.
I realized that I'll be off on Wednesday, when one of Gary's more informal groups rehearses, so I'll probably go over to Mast House with him for that. He wants me to bring a flute, so I figured the Irish wooden one would be suitable. Which led to asking him for some of the tunes they've been playing, and then to pulling out a couple of my favorite recordings, Chris Norman and Grey Larsen. I'll have to do a little practicing. The 5-key flute has some significant differences in fingering, and is designed to work with typical fiddle keys of D, A, and G. Hence notes like C natural and F natural are quite obscure though they can be obtained with a bit of effort.
current mood:  artistic
current music: Chris Norman - Isle de Madeleine
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| Saturday, April 19th, 2008
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5:18 pm - Mom Rests
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I can't resist, I have to post more photos. Gary was unloading more sheep poop out back when I put Tess out into the pasture for her 40 minute allowance. He asked if I'd seen the fox. Turns out he'd spotted her sleeping on the far bank of the creek, in our woodlot. It's a spot where she can see the entrance to the den where the kits are, but she's not easy to spot. Besides it was sunny there. I ran for the camera of course once I found her. She knew I was there, but put up with me even as I snapped about 25 photos to get this little series. At least none are blurred this time. Click on the photo for a larger view with commentary, then follow through the series by clicking each in sequence in the little panel on the right side.
current mood:  satisfied
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2:25 pm - Mom Fox Hunting
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Foxes confirmed visually. Actually, we had both seen momma vixen in the last couple of weeks, and I've smelled her at various times and locations, but today Gary ran into the house to tell me he'd seen two kits at the burrow entrance under the NW corner of the arena. I grabbed the camera and we tried to sneak back out there, in spite of the sheep and Tess yelling at us and the neighbor dogs barking. Turns out they were barking at the vixen, whom you see in this photo right of center.
For a couple more shots, including one baby, look here.
It was amazing to watch the fox and the Cairn terrier next door almost playing with one another. He would chase her, then she would chase him. She actually barked more than he did, though her bark is not as loud as his. I was surprised when the teen girl came out carrying a halter and lead rope, evidently headed back to their horse pasture, and told the dog to "Leave her alone." This was in reference to the fox, so she is aware of momma and apparently not concerned about the chickens or turkeys. (I suspect the kids don't think any more of the poultry than I do.)
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| Friday, April 18th, 2008
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8:35 pm - Earthshaking news
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Well, not really. There was an earthquake here early this morning, apparently, but I didn't notice. Might be that the peculiarities of this particular area damped out most of the vibrations, or maybe not. But I was awake at about the right time and should have noticed it if it was as long and definite as people are describing. Supposedly it was felt all the way in Ontario, with at least one noticeable aftershock mid-morning here. Nope, didn't feel that either. I'd say I'm just so used to the noise of heavy trucks and the vibrations they cause that it didn't seem any different to me, except that the dogs didn't notice either. And they really should have. Simon is so sensitive to thunder that he starts getting all nervous and hides from it long before I can hear it. Sarah barks at anything the least bit unusual. Both were quiet this morning and behaving normally.
I found it amusing that once I knew the thing had happened, the best information about it that was immediately available on the net came from the Xinhua Chinese news agency rather than from any source within the US. That changed of course once the USGS "declassified" their data or whatever it is they have to do.
In spite of two days of thunderstorm predictions, we've not even had measurable rain. I don't imagine this will continue, though the thunderstorm predictions do extend through Monday pretty much.
Gas prices in Harvard jumped 11 cents last night, to the highest in the region (higher even than Chicago) for no apparent reason. They've risen by more than 30 cents since the beginning of the month, and are now at $4.77 a gallon. That's a full 31 cents higher than the price in Capron (12 miles away) was on just Wednesday afternoon. I smell something fishy. There are four stations in town, and their prices always change together within about 15 minutes of each other.
Driving in on US14 after work to meet Gary for dinner, I passed a new (I think it's new) subdivision. Yet another land-wasting development. It's called "Horse Farm Acres" though I'm sure there will be no horses there. Perhaps it was a horse farm before the developers bought it. Anyway, the amusing thing was right next to the edge of it, there's a real horse place, at least judging by the buildings and fences, though I saw no horses at 6 pm. They might have all been indoors or behind the buildings. Anyway, there was a sign in front of it identifying it as "Poop 'n' Scoop Farm." I'm sure the suburbanites moving in next door won't like that very much.
Speaking of poop scooping, we (well mostly Gary) are in the process of moving a large pile of aged sheep poop onto various garden and flower beds. It has taken a week to get through just half of it, and it seems really funny that it isn't there where it has been for the last couple of years. Hopefully the veggies will be pleased with it, though.
And, I'm off work now until a week from Monday. Then I'll be off again the following Thursday until the next Wednesday. Not going anywhere this week, just staying home, which is often the best vacation of all for me. Then if all goes well and gas prices don't keep climbing to infinity, ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) quickcasey and I will be driving down to Ohio for the first weekend in May to have some fun with aerofox and loriana. Right after we get back I have a two day weavers' workshop on doubleweave techniques, then back to work for me. I'll end up with only one extra vacation day carried into the new fiscal year, which is within the acceptable limits.
current mood: amused
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| Thursday, April 17th, 2008
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10:07 pm - Lazy day
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I had the whole day off, which is nice coming after a Wednesday, but even better because after tomorrow I'll have nine solid days off. I'm eating up those leftover vacation days before the deadline.
So I puttered and read and messed around. Did clean the barns, did take Tess out to the pasture for a while, and did plant some seeds to get them started for the garden: tomatoes of various sorts, hot and sweet peppers, and some eggplants, which never do well but I'm perpetually hopeful.
There was a forecast of thunderstorms in the afternoon, which later were pushed off into the evening and now are down to a 60% chance of thunderstorms after 1 am tomorrow. The radar looks like they missed us completely and went off into central Wisconsin.
Swapped out the S3 Trio 64 video card in the Alpha to try an ELSA Gloria L/MX that I found. Thought it might work with Linux, which the S3 Trio doesn't do. Well, the ELSA doesn't work with Linux either, and doesn't work with VMS. This irritated me so I started experimenting.
These are older cards, and jolly well ought to have support. It turns out that the L/MX has an S3 ViRGE chip in it, which at least is supposed to be supported. Since Xorg replaced XFree86, it seems that X documentation and support has gone down the toilet. I started backing down versions of X. When I reached XFree86 version 3.3 the card started working properly. It may work in XFree 4 as well, since I never got that one fully installed. In Xorg 7.1 it doesn't work at all. The same is true for the S3 Trio 64, though now I need to swap cards again and see if that one also works in older versions of XFree86. I'm betting it does. So what's the excuse for breaking hardware drivers that used to work just fine? Just the "Oh, no one uses those old cards any more" excuse. Pretty lame. It turns out that lots of people use them if they are running older hardware, for lots of good reasons. The only cards that work with OpenVMS are old ones. And, unfortunately, the few that are compatible with both OpenVMS and Linux now have absurdly high prices. (Asking as high as $800 for a video card that was old in Y2K is just silly.)
current mood:  sleepy
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| Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
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9:50 pm - Wednesday
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As usual for a Wednesday, I'm wiped out. I owe several responses and e-mails but they must wait for tomorrow.
Weather was really springlike today, with temperatures in the 70s but gusty winds. Unfortunately the weekend is supposed to be cold and rainy last time I looked.
One other thing of note. The foxes appear to be resident under the far corner of the arena (NW) rather than the near corner (SE) where Gary blocked up burrows. We found a new spoil pile and tunnel there this morning and it smelled "foxy". Later today he found the clearcut evidence: a disembodied chicken wing lying by that burrow. We're not sure where the chicken was from though. It's the wrong color for the Brit neighbors' hens.
The state and county are doing a hurry up job of resurfacing our road. It's all ripped up just since Monday. Why? Because they are going to work on a bridge on a state highway 2 miles south of here, and plan to divert heavy truck traffic over our road for as long as six months. This is incredibly stupid. The new surface will be destroyed by the trucks before autumn. They might better have waited and resurfaced next spring, after the detour is finished.
It's going to be very hard to get out of our driveway safely, but of course no one cares about that.
current mood:  exanimate
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| Monday, April 14th, 2008
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8:57 pm - Fox again
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The tunnel under the SE corner of the arena came out all the way to the interior under the tackroom door. (Tackroom has a raised floor, so it was easy going for whatever critter made it to go the length of that room (just a walk-in closet, really) and emerge below the doorsill. Gary thought he could flush out whoever was in there, so I stood where I could see the outside end of the diggings, with a large pile of spoils now, while he ran a hose into the inside end. No one emerged. It doesn't smell like fox or skunk. Might be woodchuck, I don't think I'd smell them unless they'd been in there a while and this is less than 24 hours old. Anyway, he decided to block up both ends with concrete blocks and dirt. While he was doing that I saw the fox.
She (I'm sure it's the same vixen as last year) ran up the neighbor's drive and disappeared among the roots of the trees. I'm sure she has yet another burrow over there on the edge of our woods. No mistaking the identity, the tail alone was very obvious, and now I've seen her running enough times to recognize the posture which is unlike a dog. Also she runs silently. Any of the dogs around here would make a racket, and the neighbor on that side has a dog that is roughly fox sized and colored (but lacks the tail) but that one would have certainly barked at me rather than just running past. Fast, graceful, and silent. I like.
Spinach seed planted a week ago are starting to germinate. No sign of the lettuces yet.
current mood:  enthralled
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| Saturday, April 12th, 2008
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8:34 am - Fox sighting, finally
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I missed it, alas, because I was too slow getting my boots on this morning. Gary went out to start feeding critters, and heard barking and that fox "yawp" sound behind the arena so he went back to see. The Brit neighbors have a noisy and stupid little Cairn terrier, and there he was, confronting the vixen over a dead rabbit. Gary's appearance startled the dog and he broke eye contact, upon which the vixen grabbed her prey and ran off toward the pasture. I got out there in time to see just footprints and tufts of rabbit fur scattered about, but this provides reliable visual confirmation that the fox is around, finding prey, and that the "yawp" sound we've heard at night comes from her. Gary saw her open her mouth and utter it.
She's too small to bother even this year's lamb (who probably outweighs her already by 50%) and she certainly won't eat my ponies, so I'm glad to have her around. If she keeps the rabbits and woodchucks out of the vegetable garden I'll be delighted. If she steals the neighbor's errant chickens, I'll be even happier. To bother our remaining ducks she'd have to climb a fence in broad daylight, which I imagine she can do but as long as there are easier pickings, I don't think she'll bother. I wonder if she can take out a mature goose... Or a stupid gobbler of a turkey?
OK, pack up and head off to the guild meeting...
current mood: satisfied
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| Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
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12:21 pm - Purchases declined today
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Being "the" reference librarian means I get all the flyers (and phone calls) trying to sell us new reference books. A few years ago this was fun. You got to see new shiny books and even buy them once in a while. The prices for library reference books are outrageously high, but even so, we could justify buying some of them.
In today's mail (real paper mail, with glossy color brochures!) I received sales offers for several new encyclopedias of animal life from Facts on File. These look gorgeous. All color photos throughout, with detailed articles on virtually all major species. There's a set for birds, a set for mammals, and a set for aquatic life. The writing is aimed at junior high reading levels. It would strain our budget to buy these (about $2000 for the three sets) but there's no point anyway. We can't even force a kid or even an adult to look at a printed reference book any more. The schools are reinforcing this behavior, so that they come to us and demand to use Google. Instead of reading an article written by a zoological expert in order to do their report on "tigers" they just Google for "tiger" and take whatever comes to the top of the debris. The really horrifying thing about that for me is that the schools are not teaching any kind of discernment as to the quality of the information, instead claiming that they are teaching "computer literacy" by encouraging kids to use Google instead of the reference books.
Anyway, no encyclopedias of animal life for us. Sigh.
Another batch of flyers were easier for me to pass up, not because the books aren't good, I'm sure they are, but because I know they'd never be opened here. These were from Routledge, and were encyclopedias of various world religions. I'd love to leaf through them, but I'll have to go to a really big library to do so:
Encyclopedia of Buddhism 924 pages, $250.00
Encyclopedia of Hinduism 1086 pages, $225.00
Sufism 4 vols., 1600 pages, $1043.00
Encyclopedia of Taoism 2 vols., 1300 pages, $315.00
Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus 705 pages, first of four vols., $165.00
One might think that the last title would find some interest, but it won't and for the same reason that the others will not. We have no one interested in actually studying this sort of material. The adults' minds are already made up, and they don't want to hear anything that might contradict their set opinions. Furthermore, some will object strenuously to the idea of letting children see any of this lest it "give them ideas." It's all very sad. Allan Bloom was right when he wrote The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students except that he didn't go far enough. It's American cultural values that have done this, and the educational system is only a reflection of that larger problem.
current mood: sad
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| Monday, April 7th, 2008
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10:55 pm - Vacations!
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So... the fiscal year ends April 30 and guess who hasn't used up his vacation time again. I'll be darned if I lose any days this time, I don't get paid enough for that. Therefore, I'm taking every Thursday off up to and including May 1. And I still have to find five more days to take off in there somewhere. I shall, too.
Spinning the blend of wool with dog hair that I mentioned earlier. I think I like the horsehair better, but it's turning out quite nice looking just the same. The sheepdog (bearded collie, actually) is gray and white, and the sheep's wool is white. It's making a very nice heather effect and spinning down quite fine. I'll be plying it but expect to get just fingering weight yarn. Have to think about what to make with that.
For those of you who are attending Midwest Furfest and are fursuiters, they've just added a page to the website where you can request that your room reservation be assigned to the "fursuit floors" (3, 4, and 5.) See duncandahusky's LJ for details and link. I trundled over there and put myself on the request list. I've been thinking about all those floors and broken elevators with more than a little dread. Since all three of us in the room are fursuiters, we can legitimately ask to be put on the lower floors.
And now, to bed...
current mood: tired
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| Sunday, April 6th, 2008
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10:10 pm - Sunday busies
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Got a skeleton app using PostgreSQL and PHP working on the Alpha. This is good because I need to do this for work.
Took Tess out for her 30 minutes of grass again. She was much more ladylike on the way out and back this time. Probably because I put on gloves to avoid rope burn. Like you can keep it from raining by carrying an umbrella.
While I was doing that, Gary planted lettuce and spinach in the hot frame near the arena, after enriching the soil in there with some aged sheep poop. We have lots, if anyone needs some. I wanna say enough to supply both political campaigns, but the truth is they use an endless supply and ours is not bottomless.
And I'm falling asleep...
current mood: tired
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| Saturday, April 5th, 2008
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8:06 pm - Spring, really I think
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It got up to 65F today, and was sunny all day. We still have mud in places, but standing water is pretty much gone here (there's still plenty in lower parts of the county though.)
Tess was overly excited this afternoon when a put a lead rope on her and took her out to the pasture. I almost got a rope burn from all the frolicking and prancing on the way. I kept making her slow down, which she hates, but walking politely on a lead is one of my insistent demands from a horse. After a few trips out, she'll get over this, I know from past years.
She only gets 30 minutes right now because the new grass is coming in and I'm not about to risk foundering her. She's had a couple of near calls with that in the past. She spent the first ten minutes kicking and squealing and racing around like a foal, then rolling in the wet, squashy ground. She made enough racket to distract the neighbors' (the Brit side) horses, who were having a lesson of some sort. They used to have just one, a tall black gelding who was very good looking and mostly left to his own devices day and night. Then he disappeared over the winter and we thought they'd sold him. But he seems to be back, along with a smaller black mare and a black foal. (Daughter was riding the gelding a bit, while wearing very stylish English riding gear of course, and mum was walking the mare on a lead while the foal would get distracted for a minute or two then realize that mom was on the other side of the pasture and run full tilt and a-squealing toward her. Dad was standing at one side shouting advice at everyone, though frankly I think he has as much sense for animals as one of his geese. Son, as usual, was ignoring everyone and thrashing tree trunks with loose branches. When his branch would break, he'd pull down another one. The two year old kid and both of their dogs were racing around under everyone's feet, including the horses'.
All of this going on just two fences away kept drawing Tess' attention away from the business at hand: eating grass. Which is good, since she shouldn't eat a lot of it right away. I left her alone after ten minutes while I fixed up her stall for the night. When I came back she was waiting right by the gate for me and did not complain about having to "go home" too early.
Purple crocus and snowdrops are blooming now. Some trees are budding. The creek is flowing hard, but well below its banks. Things seem to be mostly in order for the moment.
current mood: pleased
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| Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
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6:41 pm - Rain, rain...
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It has been dark and threatening much of the afternoon, but started to rain just as I went out to do evening chores. Most of that is under roofs, so I only got mildly damp, but the noise of the rain on the arena roof seemed almost alien. Has it been that long?
Over the last weekend the neighbors with all the loose dogs and birds put up a new fence on their chicken/turkey/geese yard. Today the geese and chickens were over wandering around between our house and barn again. Guess the fence didn't stay up very well. The turkeys are just dumb but very noisy. The geese are aggressive and extremely noisy (they also poop all over the place) while the chickens just dig out everything you plant. Not much point in taking it up with them, they just don't seem to get it at all. I think she's providing fox food when it comes to the chickens. No wonder the fox sticks right around here in the spring and moves on after the chicken supply is depleted.
Two record-breaking days in a row on BOINC but it really doesn't mean much. Apparently Cosmology@Home was having database difficulties all last week, so the units everyone completed remained stuck in "pending" status. This week they finally shook loose and a huge lump of credit rained down. Normally I get between 100 and 200 points a day from Cosmology@Home, but yesterday I got about 600 all at once, and the day before 1080. Now 1080 is more than I earn in a typical day. My average day is 700 to 800 points. On April 1 I broke 1700. Yesterday I was over 1400 for the third time in a month.
current mood:  dorky
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| Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
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9:45 pm - Foxes and marmots and geese, oh my!
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Neighbor across the road reported a fox sighting to us and asked if we had seen the "neighborhood fox" yet this year. Had to admit we haven't actually had a visual confirmation, but I found two dead meadow voles stashed outside the burrow under the far corner of the arena this morning, we've seen footprints in the snow, and heard fox sounds outside after dark. Checked our regional wildlife guide and it says this is about the right time for kits to be born, which would fit with last year's observations of the young female that we ultimately had to cut loose from where she got entangled in our fence. That happened in mid-June, which is about right. Evidently at least one of the foxes is still here, so we'll redouble our observation attempts.
Gary saw a very large, perhaps pregnant, woodchuck out at the head of the creek in the pasture, too. There's a burrow there that has been used by foxes in the past but they are noted for using dens originally dug out by woodchucks here. I don't mind woodchucks, and the babies are cute. But they may end up as fox dinners. I can't dispute the fox over that, because if they don't get eaten, they will in turn be eating my vegetable garden as soon as things start coming up.
At the library we may have a pair of nesting Canada geese. They've been hanging around one slightly raised area near the building, at the edge of a large wildflower planting. Our expert birdwatcher on staff is retiring this week, but plans to still help out with the flower beds so she'll probably scope out the possible nest and let us know what's up with that.
current mood: pleased
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| Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
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9:49 pm - Books and taxes
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So we'd procrastinated long enough and did the taxes tonight. Both of us get refunds, for the first time in several years. It seems as if usually one of us ends up having to pay a chunk of cash either to the state or the feds. I got tired of that last year and increased the amount being withheld, so this year there's money to be returned for a change, plus the so-called "stimulus" money if that ever really materializes. (Of course that's all a pile of lies, they're just giving you back your own money even though they have a huge deficit and the war spending is literally bankrupting all of us.)
For National Library Week (April 13-19) we decided to do a display of "Library Staff recommended" books. Consequently I was asked to list half a dozen books I had read recently, that the library owns and can put in the display. Now, naming books I've read recently is easy. But it seems as if many of them are furry titles that aren't typical library items. Don't hold your breath for an appearance by Kyell Gold's works on your public library shelves, alas. However, with a little thought, I came up with the following list. All are in the library's collection except for the last two, and those are on order and just haven't arrived yet.
current mood: satisfied
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| Monday, March 31st, 2008
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8:01 pm - Thunder and lightning and fog, oh my!
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I'm now a zombie, thanks to my whacked out little sheepdog Simon who gets panicky at the sound of thunder. The fireworks started about 3 am this morning and continued right up until it was time to go to work. By 4:15 or so I gave up and got out of bed to sit in a chair with my hand on the pooch to keep him calm. That works more or less, as long as I don't take my hand away. His predecessor, Mikey, was of the same breed and had the same fear of thunder.
Most of you know I'm usually an early riser but not that early. I've been half out of it all day, in spite of a substantial load of work to get done. I even had an idea over the weekend (last minute) for something to submit to ROAR for the volume 2 deadline tomorrow, but it's not going to get done in time. Oh well.
The puddles from the melting snow had pretty well subsided, but more than an inch of rain in the last 24 hours has raised the water levels and the flood watches once more. The sump pump under the house is cycling about once a minute. That's a lot of water.
Oh, and my boss this morning asked me if I'd consider doing book talks on the local radio station. Apparently they are changing formats again and want to return to more local material. I approve of that, but I told her I didn't think so. What I read and would talk about would be wasted on the potential audience. Then she wanted to know if they could broadcast my podcasts (ack!) but I don't see it happening. Those all dealt with classics, not with current best sellers. I have nothing good to say about Danielle Steel or John Grisham. James Patterson leaves me cold. And I can just imagine the local population reacting to a recommendation that they read Jack London, or maybe even Kyell Gold. ;p
current mood: exanimate
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| Sunday, March 30th, 2008
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3:32 pm - Cormo and Haflinger
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Lazy weekend, mostly. I did get a number of small things done, including some yarn photography. Here is a photo of the yarn I mentioned last week, made by blending white Cormo wool with spring shed from my Haflinger ponies. You can see the wool and the chestnut horsehair lying on the cards at the left. Spun and plied, the yarn is stretchier and softer than I expected, though of course it is still "hairy" from the ends of the horsehair that stick out. You wouldn't want it for underwear I don't think, but it will make good mittens or a hat that will shed rain. I'm pleased with this result and will make up enough additional yarn for a pair of those mittens to go in the show this fall. See additional yarn and projects here.
current mood: accomplished
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| Saturday, March 29th, 2008
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9:12 pm - After the ball is over
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Gary spent most of the week working on a costume for a Civil War ball he's at tonight. Vest and frock coat, button fly trousers, and a top hat, 1860 style. He finished, just in time. The clothes look far less comfortable to me than a fursuit, actually, so I'll leave this amusement to him.
A couple of months ago I bought some different horse treats on a whim. I was ordering some practical stuff from a mail order catalog and noticed that they had "vanilla and flax" treats. It sounded good to me, so I tried a bag. The boys gobbled them but drooled on me so much that I needed a bath after. Tess spit hers out. After three tries with her, I put the sack away and forgot it. Today I went into the arena to clean and she was making a fuss at me as usual. I was standing next to the bag of vanilla treats, so I opened it and took two out. She took them one at a time and chewed with much head shaking and interest. I guess she's changed her mind. They made her drool too, but nothing like the way Archie did. He's a living showerbath sometimes.
Gary has gone to Bartlett for his ball, won't be back till after midnight. I'm home alone. Should be writing, but probably I'll go to sleep instead. ;p
current mood: amused
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| Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
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9:28 pm - Do furries have pets?
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So Kyell Gold asked yesterday whether real furries would have pets or if that seems too weird. To me the answer seems obvious enough.
Some do, and some don't, and there it is. Much the same as the situation with humans. I have never envisioned a world with furries in it where there weren't still other possible related non-anthropomorphic species. Of course there would be accommodations and mores about it, and of course there would be some furries who made bad pet owners just as there might be some who were crusaders for non-speaking animal rights. Perhaps I'm too strongly influenced by C. S. Lewis' version in Narnia, where there were talking Animals who were set aside from ordinary animals specifically by the gift of speech given to them at the world's creation by Aslan himself. And at the end of all things, those Animals who had abused their privilege or failed to live up to it lost that gift and became again the dumb beasts from which they were raised. This makes eminently perfect sense to me, and always has.
In Taking Flight, the novel I wrote for Nanowrimo 2006, my protagonist Jake did have a dog. Daisy is a special dog, though. She's a "quad", one of a small number of four legged beasts who do have limited speech capabilities and a good extra helping of rational intelligence. In fact, of all the characters in that story, though I dearly love Jake himself and his friend Chrysios (who is a very special quad indeed,) it is Daisy who is probably my favorite. I had to force myself to use her sparingly and with great care to keep her in character. And oh! How I'd love to have a cmpanion like her.
On the other hand, in The Argosiad, which is still not finished, there are no pets at all. The character interplay and plot are so complex, that it seemed like an unnecessary complication to introduce such an element. There are not even beasts of burden. The furry characters walk, and haul their cargo about on carts using their own muscle power (or the strength of hired help.)
Kyell's own world of Argaea, the home of Volle and Streak, has no pets, though he occasionally hints at the existence of wild, four legged beasts. My one disappointment in Argaea is the lack of anthropomorphic horses, which he has occasionally gone to great lengths to explain to me and others. I have a partially written story drafted out, set in the peripheral country of Delford, that explains this in my own way and provides me with an "out" for the situation that I find satisfying. It remains to be seen whether he will find it acceptable enough to let me publish the fan-fic, for that's what it would really amount to.
current mood: amused
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| Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
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9:07 pm - Long day
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Too long, too frustrating. At least the warmer weather was accompanied by brisk enough winds that much of the snowmelt was evaporated. No floods this time, and nearly all our snowcover disappeared today.
And tomorrow is Wednesday again. Ugh.
current mood: tired
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