Going to keep it short today. I’m running way too late!

I get up half an hour early today, ‘cause we really have a busy schedule ahead, and unless I give up on some much needed sleep, I fear that we aren’t going to fit it all in.
Miraculously I’m not a complete wreck when I wake up and hurry through the morning rituals as fast as possible, if for no other reason than the fact that the temperatures are eerily close to freezing and I want to get to the house where heaters are likely to burn full force.

A glance outside shows the mountain to the west covered with snow, which is pretty much unheard of this time of year. But there it is, a long stretch of white on the entire ridge, lower than it was on the two occasions I had the pleasure of seeing it before.

It’s going to be a busy day. I manage to do my workout, fifty minutes of it, and get down to editing, since we have only a few hours, and we still need to read through the whole vampire flick at least once before we send it out to the publisher.

The posting of a fan trailer on Youtube, which of course absolutely thrills me, interrupts even these few hours. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and though the HD quality I had seen of the “Work in progress” of W.I. Investigations/Shape Shifter was totally intriguing, I think I actually like this one better. Mysterious, and dark, just the way it’s supposed to be.

Also, right in the middle of a rather exciting pursuit in the story, a phone call from grandpa informs us that a large number of dogs have squeezed their way through two fences and are now running free outside the property.

Fear squeezes my throat tight, since a busy mountain road is only a hundred yards or away from the gate and if any dogs reach it, things might turn nasty. While I scramble to put the computers away, big brother and little sister head on up, calling the pack back, and by the time I join them, they’re all safely back inside, looking mighty pleased.
Idiots! They know better than to venture outside!

But anyways, still properly excited about the trailer–and calming down from the scare–by the time sunset arrives we get ready to leave and head on up to the car to go to town for our lessons. It goes well, again, the short lapses of time between the last session speeding up learning enough to make me confident I just might pass the exams in the near future, when I see I’ve answered at least ninety-eight percent of the test questions correctly.

After an hour behind the school computers, we head to the home improvement store where aluminum strips and another pint of paint are acquired for the kitchen project.
Town is decidedly warmer than our mountain, the sea climate dominant and though still cold for this area, a lot more pleasant.

That done we go home, where the dogs give their usual jubilant welcome. They are cold too, however, and as soon as they’ve got their share of attention, they cluster around the burning heaters, soaking up the heat by squeezing as close as possible to the bright red surfaces. Heck, some of the dogs won’t even care if their fur gets singed, and will stay sitting against the heat with the smell of burning hair filling the air, until we push them away. Like I said before. Idiots! Hah.

We have a quick dinner, fries and salad, and watch a “Bones” rerun for a bit until, around ten, I finally decide it’s time to get back to work on the kitchen. None of us is really feeling up to it, but we manage to get some small things done before midnight that really needed to get done.

It’s almost freezing when I head up to my cabin, the dogs not lingering outside for even a minute as soon as I turn on the small heater and lift the lazy few of my pack onto the bed before I disperse their food.

The floors are dreadfully cold, but, luckily, large cushions (the one-piece kind, this time, thank God) are eagerly used by the dogs who can’t fit on the bed.
It’s promising to be another chilly night during which I will be required to keep the heater on, lest the Monster Boxer ends up with another pneumonia.

I spend several hours online. I couldn’t wait to share the clip thing with a variety of people I chat with on forums and the likes, eager to hear what their impression was and if those who read the story feel the same thing I do when I see it.

Here’s the link, in case you’re wondering. Hah.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8mxY2OxZeUM

We’ll see.