Eyeball vs Canine

For about ten years now I’ve wanted to get my eyeballs lasered. I have fairly bad eyesight, always have, but since I was twelve I’ve been wearing contacts. Which was great -- up until about 10 years ago when my eyeballs decided they didn’t care to be encased in contacts for 18 hours a day. And don’t even get me started on air conditioning. Nothing sucks the moisture out of your eyeballs faster, and naturally I work in an air-conditioned office. Which means I have to wear my blechy glasses all day.

To add insult to injury, any time I want to go out or I’m going to be playing sports, etc. I have to negotiate the timeline. I’ll have to wear my glasses for this amount of time before I can switch to my contacts for the evening. Or if I play ball in the morning I can’t wear my contacts in the afternoon. It’s a pain in the butt. And maybe it wouldn’t be so bad except for the glaring fact that I hate wearing glasses. I mean hate it with the burning intensity of a thousand suns kind of hate it. Every time I look in the mirror and see myself with glasses on my first reaction is, ‘Wait, that’s not my face!’

So after paying off my debt and refinancing the mortgage last February I decided now is the time – before I have to spend over $600 to purchase new glasses. Or, horror, get bifocals. Ah yes, a glasses free existence would soon be mine.

But then came Coop’s vet bills and the cost of having to let her go. And then I decided to do the floors, which I had been putting off since I moved into the house five years ago. But my goal remained – get the eyes done before I went to Nationals in San Francisco. For added incentive, my boss just had his eyes lasered. The prices are just right. Cost of getting eyes lasered start at $490 per eye. Of course that’s the starting price and I’m estimating a total cost of anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000 by the end of it. But given what I spend on contacts, supplies, glasses and appointments/fittings every year, I’m saving in the long run.

Except for one thing. The dog. I had planned on getting a new dog in early 2008. That means by the time you tally up the cost of the dog, vet bills, neutering/spaying, crate, miscellaneous supplies...eeehhhh...

So now I have to decide – eyeballs or canine. I can do both. It’s just the timing that’s the issue. If I get my eyes done before the dog, then the dog may have to wait for another year. If I get the dog first...well it’ll be the floors all over again. It will get put off as other expenses come up and the next thing you know I’ll be sporting a hideous pair of bifocals and a scowl of epic proportions.

I don’t have to make any definite decisions right now, but given how I like to plan ahead, I usually start reviewing my options well in advance of making a decision.

And right now it looks like the canine situation may get put off until late 2008. Sigh...

On the plus side – I’m going to see 3:10 to Yuma again tonight with the girls. More than likely I’ll be wearing my glasses.

Not Seeing the Forest For the Trees

Did you ever notice how something can be right in front of your face and you still don’t see it? I kept thinking about the Sheltie in the back of my head as a possibility for a breed to consider for my next dog. Growing up I had always wanted a collie. My favorite book was Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune. And if I couldn't have a collie, a close runner up was the Sheltie, by virtue of the fact that they basically looked like a small collie. Not exactly the best way to pick a dog, but I was a kid, what did I know?

Anyway, fast forward many moons. My uncle has had shelties and any time we visited the dog was so sweet. There’s just something you see when you look in their face. But still, when I was researching dog breeds I kept the Sheltie in the back of the brain and didn’t bring it forward.

I looked at Labs and German Sheppards, Beagles and Golden Retrievers. I considered the Havanese and the Lhasa Apso if I decided to go with a smaller breed. The Bulldog and Bernese Mountain Dogs were favorites but the short life expectancy wasn’t something I wanted to deal with. I had just lost one dog, looking at a short life expectancy didn’t make me rush to sign on. I looked at rescue organizations, the SPCA and other shelters. I decided against going with a backyard breeder and was completely against purchasing from a pet store since they get their pets from either backyard or disreputable breeders, or worse, puppy mills. But search as I might, I could quite find a breed that matched the things I was looking for.

I preferred a medium sized dog. They’re generally less cash to feed and care for, easier to shuttle about and less likely to have your family quirk a skeptical eyebrow when you suggest they dog sit for you when you want to go away to a writing retreat or conference. But size wasn’t the biggest concern. I wanted intelligence and a strong desire to please, making them more receptive to training and obedience. I wanted a dog less prone to wandering so I could go to off leash parks without worrying it would take off and never been seen again. I wanted a dog that was good around children and other animals, one who was friendly, but would still be a good watch dog. I wanted a dog that was active, but not so active that I would never be able to give it the exercise it required. And a longer life expectancy would be an added bonus. Not that you can necessarily predict the life span because anything can happen, but if you can at least start off with a longer base, then it beats a shorter one, right?

None of the above breeds were fitting enough of my criteria. Some were too big, too expensive, too much a guard dog, too prone to wandering, not so obedient, too independent, extremely active and needed lots of exercise. I started to wonder if I would ever find the right dog. Surely there had to be one out there for me that fit what I wanted. I was beginning to damn my conscientious hide for wanting to ensure I bought the right dog, worried it might end up with me getting no dog. That ranked up there with 'fate worse than death' to me. So I decided to go onto the website I had bookmarked that listed registered breeders in Nova Scotia and check out each breed profile.

Bleary-eyed and discouraged I finally reached the “S” section. I clicked on Shetland Sheepdog and began to read the profile. It was brief but piqued my interest. I went on to Wikipedia for more.

Hmm...an outstanding companion dog. Intensely loyal. Lively, intelligent, trainable, and willing to please and obey. Does especially well with children if they are raised with them from an early age. The intelligent Sheltie can be trained to be an excellent watch dog, and not yappy if properly trained, giving two or three barks to alert its owner to a person at the door. Shelties love to run in wide-open areas. The space should be safe and they should not get too far away. Shelties usually love to play. The Sheltie likes to be kept busy, although their activity level usually coincides with their owner's level. Life expectancy: 12 – 15 years.

Huh. You don't say...

I emailed a local breeder and asked some more questions to see if my lifestyle matched that of the Sheltie. Everything checked out. Then I borrowed a book from the library and read through it. The more I read and learned the more I realized this was the perfect dog for me. It fit all the main criteria I needed and just as crucial, my lifestyle would fit the dog as well.

Then there was this, which made me do the little happy dance. According to Dr. Stanley Coren, an expert on animal intelligence, the Sheltie is one of the brightest dogs out there, ranking 6th out of 132 breeds tested. His research indicates an average Sheltie can understand a new command in less than 5 repetitions and would obey a command the first time it was given 95% of the time or better.

Sweet. I love training dogs. When I was in high school it was one of things I wanted to be when I grew up. But unfortunately our guidance counsellor was rather short sighted. His answer to any suggestion I made was, "No, you're one of the smart kids, you go to college." Right. Anyway, I would still love to do it. The dog-training, not the college stint. I tried that twice. The first time I quit the day before classes started. The second time I quit nine days after classes started. Me and classrooms are a bad mix. My plan is that when I am writing full-time (like my power of positive thinking), I would like to train dogs as well. I'm looking into certification for it now. I like to plan ahead.

But I digress. Back to the Shelties. As if to sell me further on the breed, I discovered the Sheltie usually dominates its size class in agility, which I really want to try.

I contacted the breeder I spoke to earlier to see if she had upcoming litters. She did. She expected she would have a litter ready to go Jan/Feb and another in Jun/July. I asked to be put on her waiting list. Hopefully the Jan/Feb litter will have a pup for me. With me going to San Fran at end of July, I would prefer to have the dog trained before I go, rather than just get the pup and then have to head out of town for a week.

Better still, unlike my earlier decision about the beagle that had me second guessing myself the whole way, this one feels really good. The gut is not giving off any ‘uh oh, I’m not so sure about this’ signals. All is well in gut-land.

For anyone wondering what breeds outranked the Sheltie on the brightest dog lists, here’s your top 5: (1) Border Collie; (2) Poodle; (3) German Sheppard; (4) Golden Retreiver; (5) Doberman. Followed, of course, by the Sheltie.

Wondering where your dog ranks? Check out the brighest dog list and find out.

Kelly Boyce: Foster Mother

Okay, not to actual humans, I'll leave that to those of you with infinite patience and the ability not to lock children in closets when they act up. But I started thinking that while I am sans canine, I still wanted to do something to help one of the shelters or rescue organizations. At first I thought of walking the shelter dogs, but then as I was looking at the websites I saw that another way you can help is taking in the shelter dogs to basically foster them until they find their forever homes. This is better for the dogs who can then become socialized in a home atmosphere instead of being stuck in a kennel at the shelter.

I could help out and do some good, it would keep me around dogs, and yet I didn't have to make a long term commitment until I was ready. I also get to practice my dog training skills on any of the unsuspecting canines that come into my home. Hmm...this sounds like an idea worth investigating.

I contacted Lab Rescue Nova Scotia and asked them for some information. They take in Labrador retrievers and lab mixes. I really like the breed because they're good family dogs but I've never actually had one before so this would give me a good way of determining if it would be a breed that would fit my lifestyle. So I'm mulling over the idea. And who knows, maybe in the process I'll find the perfect dog for me.

Meanwhile, back in Revision Land things are starting to fall into place. What a relief. The book doesn't need to be blow-torched into a fiery ball of flames after all. Good thing. It would have made it most difficult to write the other three books in the series without the first one.

And...just 10 days till 3:10 to Yuma opens!! Woo hoo!!!

A Hump Day Update

Here's a picture of the finished product. The floors look fabulous. My BIL did a great job. It feels like a whole new house. I love it. Next up - the carpet on the stairwells and upstairs hallway. But that might have to wait until next year.

Thanks to everyone for the support on my decision to hold off on getting the dog. It was a tough decision but the right one. I feel good about having made it and I'm looking forward to next year when I can find a new canine companion. I may go through the SPCA or one of the rescue organizations. I still want a dog that's between 8 weeks to 1 year, just to give me the longest amount of time possible with it, but also to train it properly so I feel good about it being around other animals and my small nieces & nephews. But that isn't written in stone. If I find a great dog and it feels right that will be the main criteria.

Meanwhile, I am motoring along on the revisions. I'm busy transferring my scene sheets onto my storyboard to piece things back together. This has allowed me to see things much more clearly and I realized elements I had missed and/or needed to be beefed up. I strengthened the motivation of the hero, heroine and the villain as well which I think makes for a much better story. And the mystery element that travels through all four books in the series has been given a much more prominent role in this one. My hope is to have everything completed in September so my CP and another friend who offered to read it can get the finished product. I want to have it ready for the GH so time is getting to be of the essence.

I'm hoping to take first week in October which I have off, and use that time to start storyboarding Book 2 of the series. I'd love to have the outline and storyboard figured out by the end of the year so I can start writing it the first of the year. My goal is still to have a contract by conference 2008.

As for the weight watchers thing - a friend at work and I have decided to team up. We'll do a weigh in every Monday and have each designated an amount to lose over the next twelve weeks. We aren't going to the meetings (can't afford that right now), but she has all the books from before so we're using those and following the points thing. I think having someone to check in with each week will definitely keep me motivated.

The Six Month Moritorium

Okay, so some of you may have noticed I took down yesterday's post about the new pup.

I have changed my mind. Yes, that's right. All the hype and none of the follow through. Welcome to my freaky brain. I feel slightly stupid, mostly for not realizing this before things went this far, but also because. Well, just because. But apparently I was grieving. Or rather still am. I really should have read those six steps more closely. Luckily my brother was there to inform me.

You see, I started freaking out, second guessing my decision, realizing maybe the beagle wasn't the right choice and oh no I'm rushing into this and what if this is wrong and why does my gut feel like someone poured acid into??

My brother, who lost his dog a few months before I lost Coop said he went through the same thing about 'need to get another dog now'. But my brother, apparently being far more sane a creature than I, made himself wait six months before he made any decisions. He figured that way he wouldn't rush in and regret later.

Oh. Right. Well that makes sense. Act in haste, repent at leisure and all that rot.

So I made the decision to call the breeder and pass on the new pup. Then I told my brother he had my permission to sit on me, or my bank card, if I tried to buy a new dog before next year.

Sigh...on the plus side, I guess I can afford to get my floors done now.

A Work In Progress

I'm busy working away on the storyboard doing my revisions for Brimstone. I'm happy to say this class has helped immensely. It's making me look at things differently and it helps me see aspects of the story I hadn't considered before, which hopefully will make it richer.

Right now I'm going through my scenes and inputting the info on the scene sheets. I've cut a few scenes, blended a few others and added elements and motivations to others still.

As you can see, my board is still a work in progress. The small pink stickies are where my turning points should occur. I switched over to a bigger board too so I could use the bigger lined post-its. Easier to read my writing afterwards. In doing this whole process I realized a few areas still require some thought so I'm working on that to make sure everything works and that there are no sagging middle parts. I also sectioned it off into 24 chapter blocks rather than just 20 since I usually have about 22 and that still leaves room if I need a prologue / epilogue.

On the puppy front - I should be making my final selection in the next day or two. I'll post a picture when I do. I'm so excited!!

Storyboarding – Day Two

I’m not sure which I dislike more – doing the dreaded synopsis, or trying to nail down internal and external conflict so it makes sense and carries through the entire story. As of yesterday, I was leaning heavily towards the conflict.

As homework for Day 2 of Shelley Bradley’s Storyboarding class, we had to fill out our Conflict Grid. Great, I thought! Something to make the process easier. Um, yeah. Three hours and several clumps of hair later I was on the verge of tossing my entire book into the nearest bonfire. Luckily, I didn’t strike a match, blow torch or anything similar with flames shooting out of its end. I kept reminding myself that getting this nailed down would prevent much revision later, and if I was having trouble filling it out, maybe that was a good indication I needed to seriously look at my original conflicts.

So I continued to hammer away. And hammer. At some point the only hammering was my head on the surface of the table, but hey, I was still hammering. I finally finished last night but wasn’t entirely happy. I had changed my heroine’s personality and it just didn’t fit. She was too cynical. So was my hero. It didn’t work. My heroine was supposed to be open minded and accepting in the face of my hero’s cynicism. So I went back in and fixed a few things this morning and now I feel better.

The exercise was hard. Brain-twisting, headache inducing hard. But it was worth it. And I can definitely see how this will help down the road. Better to fight with it in the beginning than get two drafts down and realize – oh-oh, Houston, we have a problem. Which is sort of the situation I am in now.

Needless to say, I am really enjoying this course. I think the whole process will definitely help me work out the majority of my plot problems and conflict issues before I start writing. Oh happy day. Because if I can do that, I can write more. Fewer drafts, less time, more output. Yippee!!

And speaking of yippee! There is a very, very good chance that I will be bringing home a new beagle pup at the end of September. I’ll keep you posted as the situation develops and pictures are available. Actually, I have pictures now, but I’m not sure which one will end up being the one I take home, so we’ll wait and see. Don’t want to jinx things! Although I have started stocking up on supplies when I see them on sale. I now have toys (the all important Kong), leash, collar and neutralizing spray for accidents. Next up - crate and baby gates.

And the weight watchers thing is still proving easy to use. Two days and two pounds down. Granted it won’t continue to be this easy, but since I just need to drop 13 lbs to get to my goal weight, two pounds is enough to induce a happy dance. Which, if I can keep up for an hour, will get me three more points...

Forward Motion

As most of you know, I lost Coop back in June and while I miss my little buddy greatly, I also know by the end of the year I will be ready to bring home a new bundle of fur. I'm a dog person through and through and being without one seems to have me at loose ends. I feel a bit useless without my usual levels of responsibility! But even so, I still need time to get over the idea that Coop isn't going to be greeting me at the door ever again and be okay with the idea that another pup will. Slowly I'm getting used to the idea. I don't miss Coop any less, but looking forward to a new pup makes me feel better and lifts my spirits. I've discovered I do much better when I'm in forward motion and I know Coop would be perfectly okay with that.

So I started looking around and doing some research on where to get my next pooch. Pet stores were out. Much as I would love to free every last puppy from those glass cages I can't in good conscience support the puppy mill factory. Plus the dogs are often unhealthy and from stock that has been overbred and inbred and living in deplorable conditions. So that was out. I checked out the SPCA and other shelters but none of them had puppies and indicated most of the dogs they get were usually past puppyhood. Again, much as I loved the idea of rescuing every last dog in there (oh just wait until I have my hobby farm...!), I had to think about what I needed. With a shelter dog I wouldn't be sure of its background, training, any behavioral issues. I needed a dog I was comfortable having around my small nieces and nephews and the other animals without there being any issues of fear or aggression. I also wanted to have as much time with my pup as possible and getting one that was older already cut out some years I could spend. Which sounds really selfish, but there you have it.

Which left finding a reputable breeder. I had settled on the type of dog I wanted - a beagle. It fits my lifestyle and also is very sociable and great with kids and other animals. I looked around for reputable breeders in my area and found a few. They were all great, but one in particular I had a really good feeling about and got in contact with them. They have two litters due in September which mean the pups would be ready to go to their new home in November. I asked to be put on the waiting list.

It's no guarantee I will get one of the pups, but the chances are good. The breeder has first pick from the litter, as they breed the animals for themselves and keep the ones they feel will enhance the health and strength of the breed. They don't always keep one from the litters, but they have first choice, obviously. Then there are three people ahead of me on the list. She said average litter size is about 4 pups but can be 6 or 7. Or it can be none at all if things don't go as planned.

But if things do go as planned, and the litters are of average size, I should be able to bring home a new furry companion this November. And I'm really excited about that.

Beating it the Hell Outta Dodge

I have one workday left until my vacation and I cannot tell you how hard I am chomping at the bit to get going. Saturday morning I am beating it the hell out of Dodge, a suitcase full of books, my alphie, a notebook and stash of pens. And then I’m off to the wilds of Pictou County to spend five glorious days holed up at my family’s camp with nothing to do but read and write.

I can’t tell you how badly I need this break. My brain feels fried, my emotions halfway frayed and my motor running on fumes. I just want to get away. I think there’s a song in that...wait...why is Love Shack by the B-52s going through my head now? Great.

Anyway, the plan was to have Brimstone completed before I left. I have the scene caps completed in some detail but I still have about 14 scenes left to write. And I need to do it in 50 pages. Yeah. Can you say ‘going over page count once again’ boys and girls? I can. But I’ll worry about cutting back in the read through. Either way, chances of me whipping off those 14 scenes in my 2 hours tomorrow morning is probably not going to happen. But I’ll work on it while I’m at the camp in between reading and plotting out Saving Grace.

Wednesday I come home and meet with my CP and then the rest of the week I’ll kick back and putter about the house, probably doing more reading and writing than actual puttering, although those two back bedrooms are in dire need of being cleaned out.

I’m still trying to get used to Coop not being in the house. Not actually being very successful at it. I guess 12 ½ years of habit is hard to break. I’ve been looking at breeders for golden retrievers and have found a few I feel comfortable with, but most of them having litters now and I can’t really afford to take on a new pup until later in the year after I get some bills paid off and some money stashed away. If I wasn’t in the mood to be fiscally responsible I’d be sitting on their doorstep now demanding one of their furry bundles. After nearly 30 years of always having a dog I’ve discovered I’m not very good without one. I feel aimless and pointless, like I used to have a purpose and structure and now it’s just all gone. And I think we all know how badly I do when I don’t have structure. It ain’t pretty.

But I’ve promised myself to wait until the end of the year and so that is what I will have to do. Unless of course I find a really good deal, or some gut feeling tells me this is the right puppy and you have to buy it now, the way it did with Coop. But unless I get that, I'm waiting.

I hate waiting. Not a good waiter...not a good waiter at all...

Oh - and if I miss any of you conference goers before you leave: Have a great time in Dallas!!