Halloween is only a few days away.  People have been dressing up, attending parties and carving pumpkins.  We have some pretty awesome pumpkin carving artists in this family.

Buddy and I took a trip to the vet on Friday.  He has several lumps that I wanted the vet to look at.  We are scheduled for surgery on Nov. 7th.  The vet will take him at 8 am that day, do the surgery and then I will pick him up again at 4:30pm.  The vet said maybe we will be lucky and they will just be fat deposits.  One can only hope.  Buddy will have to stay indoors for a few days after and probably wear one of those cone-shaped collars to keep him from licking or otherwise tearing the stitches.  The vet also said that since Buddy is 8 years old now, he is considered a geriatric patient.  She will do additional pre-surgery tests because of that.
 
Our weather continues to be just about perfect.  The mornings are getting cooler, days are sunny and warm.  Evenings are balmy and breezy, perfect for sitting outside, watching the sun go down, having a glass of wine and just relaxing.

I am almost done with the Christmas shopping.  Yes, Christmas isn't far away.  Tucson is a winter haven for "snowbirds" so I like to try to get shopping done before Thanksgiving.  After that the roads are jam- packed and so are the stores.  No Fun!

I have a new muu-muu cut out for Thanksgiving and the fabric for a new Christmas one.  I have curtains to make for my daughter and I have started a new writing project.  One of the books I just finished reading about writers says that some writers publish a book a year and others only one every five years.  It says to give yourself 3 years to really get into writing and publishing.  One must establish a regular work schedule just as if you had a regular 9 to 5 job to go to each day.  I don't think I will be able to work that many hours at first.  I am shooting for 4 hours a day from about 9 to 1.  Writing this blog today was my assignment for today.  I am also going to the library for additional research material.  Going to the library will also become part of my working routine.

The vet asked me if I still had my alpacas.  When I told her "Yes, I do," she laughed and said "So does everyone else!"  We both laughed.  I really haven't been trying to sell the boys.  I really do like having them.  Now that the shock and pain of losing Tinker and Kardigan has eased, I am even thinking of getting more.  Steve is adamantly opposed to that of course.  So I figure, once I make some money as an author and writer then I will do as I please! Right?  LOL!

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!  Well, not bears.  We didn't see any bears on our end of the fall vacation trip to the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson yesterday.  We did see the new elephant exhibit, which was fabulous.  There were 5 elephants, one huge bull, 3 cows and one baby.  He was really cute.  We also saw gorgeous, majestic giraffes, a rhino with one big bad horn, gazelles, gibbons, roaming tigers and sleeping lions.  The kids had a blast and the place was packed.  I don't think I've seen so many little kids and strollers in my life.  Is there a new population explosion?

Our weather has been to die for, just wonderful, with clear cool mornings and sunny warm afternoons, temps in the 70s.  We love it!  I took tons of pictures at the zoo and tons of pictures of the ubiquitous sunflowers along our roadsides.  I love the wild sunflowers too.  They are so wild, strong and sunny.  They cheer me up just looking at them.  

I have been keeping my grandson while school has been out the last two weeks.  We have done fun things, like visit the zoo and his cousins.  However, I have not managed to do much writing because of keeping busy with him.  Not that I mind.  He will not be little forever, something us grandmas are well aware of.  Children grow up fast and suddenly you find yourself wondering where the time went. 

Buddy and I have started a new class.  We are learning to be "Pet Partners" in an "Animal Assisted Activities" Program.  We have to go through 7 classes and then an evaluation process.  We then become a "registered" team.  Once we are evaluated and registered, we will be able to visit nursing homes, libraries, hospitals and other places where people may be encouraged by the presence of a friendly animal companion.  Buddy has done an excellent job so far.  He really surprised me the very first night.  He remembered all of his training from his puppy socialization course at PetSmart.  That was about eight years ago. He even responded correctly when given the "stay" command.  He doesn't do that so well at home.  So I was very happy with his performance.  We attended the first class conditionally, that is, the trainers wanted to see how well we worked together before admitting us to the class.  We passed and are in for the entire course.  I may have to attend without him this week however.  He reeks!

Yes, my wonderful Livestock Guardian Dog, in the performance of his true duties, killed a skunk this morning. The stench woke my husband and me up at about 5 am this morning.  Yuk! Yuk! Yuk!  However, I am impressed, never the less. Why?  Because I think Buddy has learned a great deal in his many encounters with skunks.  I think he killed this skunk with one single bite and escaped with minimal damage to himself.  He does stink but he did not get black sticky skunk spray all over himself this time.  And the skunk did not escape.  I found his carcass in the old goat pen. The vultures were already circling. Steve removed the skunk from the pen to a place where the vultures will have better access and Buddy will not.  I'm afraid the stink will linger for some time unfortunately.

There has been some news around here recently of jaguar sitings and pictures taken in the area.  While I think it is great that jaguars are making a comeback in our area,  I am thankful for my big Livestock Guardian Dog who is fearless and protects us all from the wild critters.