Normality Rears Its Boring Head

Now that the blind horse (new name: Keller, after Helen Keller) is safely at Shiloh Horse Rescue, and now that her intrepid transporter, Mikey, is back home in Arizona, there's nothing for me to do except get back on with normal life.

Which for me, largely consists of:
* Working on yet another issue of Horse&Rider. The November issue's last pages go to press today, so the December issue is officially underway. (For us mag-types, the holidays come early; I've already had the Christmas decorations out, for the purpose of taking holiday-themed photos for the issue.)

* Wielding a paintbrush and roller in my non-work hours. When we bought our place in '96, we were enamored of its lovely white buildings and expansive set of three-rail, white-board fences. And, have been trying (mostly in vain) to keep up with the painting of it all, ever since. Not to mention: Guess whose husband DOES NOT PAINT?

* Days spent alone in the company of animals (three dogs, three horses.) Once Ed leaves to go to his job in town, I usually don't see any other human-types, except for the FedEx and UPS drivers, and maybe the occasional drive-by Jehovah's Witness. It's really no wonder that I'm used to talking aloud and having no one answer.

* Making lists of all that needs to be done in preparation for another winter. New to the list this year: "Plan mid-winter trip to Arizona." I didn't exit, stage-south, during any part of last year's big whiteout winter, and definitely regretted it. Not making that same mistake twice!