Chris, a fellow lulu and very good friend,  reaches a magical birthday number today! Woohoo! :)  Happy Birthday, Chris. Hope the day is a good one.

Also, fellow dame Jenna is giving away a copy of Karen Chances Curse of Dawn over on Deadline Dames, so check that out if you want a free book . Here’s the update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 9
Time spent writing - 7 (with breaks)
Current page count - 277
Intriguing things - her brother has been kidnapped.
Annoyances - not sure this story is headed the right way
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - having a hot cup of chocolate while watching the Supernatural boys
Muse food - watching the Supernatural boys

originally I thought it was going to take days…even weeks…for us to get hot water back, because most of the local supply/install places were flat out, and the city places don’t cater for us country folks. But I was talking (aka bitching) to my neighbour, and he asked if I’d tried the local plumbing supply place. Now, I didn’t even know we had a local plumbing supply place, so off I tootle. They just happened to have the perfect hot water service in stock, so I bought it. They delivered fasto-pronto, and the delivery guy asks if I have a plumber yet. When I say no, he gives me the name and number of a local guy. I ring local guy and he says he can come out that afternoon. And the best bit–he didn’t cost a fortune. Gotta love living in the country on occassions like this :)  Here’s the update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 10
Time spent writing - 8 (with breaks)
Current page count - 236
Intriguing things - a cop up to no good
Annoyances -  Story feeling like it’s dragging
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - didn’t get to the gym thursday or friday, so I did 45 min of the walk/run/hill program on the treadmill yesterday
Muse food - watched the first episode of Being Human–what a great concept! A ghost, a vampire and a werewolf, all trying to be ‘human’ while forces outside their personal lives want otherwise. It’ll be interesting to see where they take this one

So, the hot water unit decided to crap out today, meaning we have no hot water. Why do these things happen at the most inconvenient times?  It’s a pain in the rear, I tell you (as is trying to get someone out to replace the thing ASAP. People obviously do not want money in this place.) Anyway, here’s the update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 9
Time spent writing - 6 (with breaks)
Current page count - 219
Intriguing things - not sure that there is anything interesting or intriguing happening
Annoyances - see the above comment
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - taking it easy during training thanks to archilles strain
Muse food - watching the Scottish architect on The Home Show 

where the muse cannot concentrate and it would be easier pulling teeth than getting words on the page. I’m pretty sure this whole scene is bin material. It moves slower than a damn tortoise, but I keep telling myself it doesn’t matter. Crap can be fixed–but the crap must exist on the page before any fixing happens. Here’s the official update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 7
Time spent writing - 6 (with lots of breaks)
Current page count - 210
Intriguing things - A wolf just tried to sneak a kiss from Riley. A very bad mistake.
Annoyances - the words on page are sucky
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - resting foot–hurt my achilles at gym today
Muse food - checking out the great artwork over at deviant art.

I didn’t get to the gym today. After braving the cold to walk the dogs (and getting a headache from said cold and soaked to the skin to boot), I decided to just stay inside and keep warm. So, I had plenty of time to write today, and although it sometimes felt like I was writing nothing better than shite, I managed to get plenty of pages done and the plot is rolling along nicely. And even if it is shite, it’s words on page and I can always fix them later. Here’s the official update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 13
Time spent writing - 8 hrs (with breaks)
Current page count - 179
Intriguing things - Riley distrusting her brother
Annoyances - Do you know how cold it is outside? Brrrrrrr (shivering)
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - Belgian hot chocolate drink. Yummy, and 99% fat free
Muse food - The Mentalist–season end episode and Simon Baker in top form

When I walk the dogs, they’re mostly off leash, because there’s a lot of walking tracks, back roads and paddocks near where we live, and at the hour we’re out, there’s not many people up and about.  So the dogs run about, roll in things, eat crap, and generally have a damn good time. There’s also a herd of kangaroos who live in the nearby hills and we come across them quite often. I’ve never worried about the dogs chasing them because, (a) the roos usually spot us coming, and if they don’t, I wave my arms about like a loon so they know we’re there, and (b) because my dogs are fat and lazy, and generally give up after a few minutes of running. The only time I’ve ever called the dogs off is when the roos are near the fences–the baby roos can’t jump that high, and they can’t climb through the wire quickly enough to get out of the dogs way.

That changed this morning.

A mum roo and her baby were up near the houses. I didn’t even see them, but I did see the mum roo sprinting away, and then I heard Ella making this horrible noise. I ran up the hill from the walking track to see what she was doing and all I saw was legs. Baby roo legs. I don’t think I’ve run so damn fast in my life. Ella had the baby pinned and was really attacking her–ever tried to haul a 50 kg dog off it’s prey? It ain’t easy. I did eventually get her restrained, and the baby roo hopped away. It had a wonky leg, and fell over several times, but it did put weight on it, so I’m hoping like hell it didn’t sustain any real damage. But I tell you, I was shaking. Ella is the gentlest dog out, but she’s also a lab and they’re hunting dogs, and that instinct is in her. It was scary to see her going at the roo (although I was never afraid that she’d lash out at me.) The trouble is, now that she’s caught a roo, she’s got the taste for it, so I’ll have to restrain her from now on. I can’t risk her catching–and perhaps next time killing–another little roo.

Now I’ve just got my fingers crossed that the little roo found her mum okay and that she really will be fine. Here’s the writing update.

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 6
Time spent writing - 1.30
Current page count - 161
Intriguing things - Riley is naked in the middle of a desert.
Annoyances - don’t know enough about policing practices in remote Aussie communities
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - lunch with my sister and a friend I’ve known for 37 years.
Muse food - supernatural is on tonight!

The fab Richelle Mead is running a couple of contests for Aussie residents only. Head on over to her blog to check out the details. There’s  an early copy of Blood Promise or another Vampire Academy book up for grabs.