Meanwhile, back at the laptop...

(Peculiar habits that writers develop, sort of like the smith spitting into the fire and turning around three times before forging a blade -- I compose rough drafts on the laptop and then revise on the desktop machine. I tell myself that things look different on the different screens, but really it's because manuscripts composed on the laptop have managed to achieve sale....)

Got back to Beowulf and the Bitch this morning, now that we don't have yawning chasms opening in the road out front or diesel-powered badgers clawing up the dirt at 6 AM. Now I have The Shrew staring at a steel door, locked and barred, with seawater leaking around the edges. Beowulf, Grendel, The Old Witch, and The Brat are on the other side, and The Shrew is under strict orders not to open that door....

(Sorta like Bluebeard's Closet, but different.)

Chapter 31 of a probable 32. Progress progresses.

Weird animal behavior

Just back from our evening walk, Wife and I acquired a dog a couple of houses _up_ the street. Golden retriever type, maybe -- I'm not a dog person, so I'm guessing. But it adopted us, walked us for the whole circuit of maybe two miles, circling and sniffing stuff and coming back to us and then heading out on another round. Well-behaved, acted like it was on an invisible leash. Then it dropped off a couple of houses _down_ the street and vanished. Nice dog, but I am _not_ going to feed it and clean up after it.