The last six or so weeks have been, in a word, insane. I paid off the land and then promptly ended up in the hospital for five days with diverticulitis. While that was not “enjoyable”, it did light a fire under my ass to get out of the camper. I was lying there on the next-to-last day, thinking about how I missed my animals and my computer…but not the camper. I did not relish the thought of sleeping on my uncomfortable bed or sitting in my uncomfortable chair, both of which make my back and/or hips hurt. My parents had been taking care of my herd for me while I was laid up, and when I asked them what I could do to thank them for their help, they told me I could, to quote my dad, “get out of that damn camper.” So, here we are, about 5 weeks later, and while I’m not out, yet, I’m very close. I’ve picked out a tiny house (with a front porch—that was a major selling point), leveled a spot for it (right between the barn and the herd’s little pasture, so it’ll be just a few steps to walk out and greet them instead of the 500 feet it is currently—I’ve taken to driving), put down and compacted road base to put it on, dug a 70-foot long trench (50 feet by hand), and put the water line in. If all goes well, I’ll have the electrical done this weekend, and then it’ll just be waiting on the tiny house to get here sometime around November 12th. After that, I get the septic installed, install the gutters and the skirting, and it’s move-in day! I’m pretty excited. It’s even got its own washer and dryer, which is *super* exciting: for the first time in 4 years, I won’t have to leave the house to do laundry or to shower!

But, with all this stuff going on, I haven’t been doing any writing. Today’s actually the first day since last Monday that I haven’t spent hours digging a trench. Last Monday was 1-1/2 hours, and it’s been roughly 2 hours a day ever since…except Saturday, which was 8 hours…plus voting and getting replacement tires. So, yeah, no writing for the foreseeable future. I still have a couple of commissions to finish up from the last batch that I put on hold once I start up again, so it’s definitely looking like I’m not going to open up again until 2021. We’ll see how things go once I’m in the tiny house—maybe the newfound comfort and space will inspire me to write, but I’m not really holding my breath.

Anyway, just wanted to say I’m not dead. Dead tired, maybe, but not dead!