Good news!

• The vet called and it's not a tumor, but an infection in the bone! Still work to do, but what I was so afraid of turns out not to be happening. Bottoms up!

Terrified

• BC had a biopsy today of a bump on his right front leg. The vet is thinking bacterial infection in the bone, or tumor. I'm terrified.

Sheepish

• Haven't posted for several days; my life was temporarily revolving around sheep! We were going to participate in a sheep herding trial the day before yesterday, and because BC is visually impaired I decided to take a lesson on the trial field, so he'd at least see it beforehand. So last Tuesday we drove 2-1/2 hours there, had a lesson and drove back. 
  On Thursday we had a lesson somewhere else ("only" an hour away), with a possible new instructor. (Our regular instructor is out of commission for a while for health reasons.) And Sunday we had the trial. The first lesson was kind of wild, since BC hadn't seen a sheep close up for three months. And I had to get into it again as well. 
  The lesson on Thursday was somewhat better. Interesting to take a lesson from someone who isn't primarily into trialling. She actually herds, well, a huge herd of sheep, about 350 animals. 
  And Sunday was the trial. Decided to go there Saturday evening and stay in a B&B so I wouldn't have to get up at five on Sunday morning. Sunday turned out to be a lovely day. The trial didn't really go as planned (the sheep high-tailed it back to their starting pen twice), but I noticed the commands were going much better and I was happy about that. Even though we exceeded the time limit we ended up being tied for 5th place out of 19. Not bad!
• Now getting back in gear with the rest of life, like continuing with getting rid of stuff, getting the repair work done on the kitchen etc. I picked out a really nice countertop; here's a pic. (And now to bed!) 

There's something I just don't get

• Why, oh why, are there so many "leaked" sex tapes and nude photos? I'm talking about actual leaks here, not stuff people put out there themselves and then pretend it's leaked. If it floats your boat to make them during the act, why not delete them afterwards (and format the memory card)? If you want to look at them again, why do you store them where someone obviously can get to them? And...on your cell phone? What's up with that? The easiest thing in the world to lose besides your house key? Not a shining example of a good place to store sensitive information. I just don't get it.

A grammar note

• Am I the only one who's still annoyed at the phrase "eat healthy"?

Aha! The clothes solution!

• In my very first post I complained about the used clothes problem: what do you do with the clothes you've worn but don't need to be washed yet? My pattern is: get undressed in the bathroom and leave the clothes on the edge of the bathtub, so I can grab them as soon as I get out of bed and have to take Border Collie out. But the pile seems to grow daily, it slides into the bathtub or onto the floor, and was making me unhappy. But I only just thought of this solution: an over-the-door clothes hanger for just a few dollars! Now I have a place to keep the clothes accessible, but not in an ugly pile. Happy!

Do we recognize this?

• Oh, dear. I don't want to think about how much this is true! (source: Failblog)

Less TV and general update

• Just have to crow about something so simple that it's amazingly easy to miss. I get so much more done when I unplug! Of course I'm not giving up my TV or computer (I'm even entertaining the idea of a laptop for when Man is here), but I am definitely stepping away from the screens more often. More consciously. And then I'm getting the bill-paying done, getting the laundry done, reading something, sitting on the sofa with coffee, enjoying Border Collie. And I forget less. Very rewarding. Anyone else amazed at how simple this is? Tammy Strobel isn't, as she explains in her post on Rowdy Kittens.
• I'm even doing a better job of the whole food thing. Attention is the key. Attention and calm.
• No new half kitchen yet. Have to wait for approval by the insurance company. 
• Horse seems to be doing well. Biked with her for half an hour today. She was frisky because of the cold, sunny weather. Had to trot some to express herself, which looks pretty cool next to a bike. :-) Here's a video (not me); imagine this, but with several times more excitement, hehe.
• She's really shedding at the moment, removing her winter coat. I find stroking a lava stone all over gets a LOT of hair out. 
• Border Collie had a sort of dislocated toe last week. Seems to be fine now. If it persists (which it could if ligaments are too loose) the vet will show me how to tape the toe to its neighbors before sheepherding or anything else intensive.