I feel like a broken record. It’s been another frustrating week of no progress. With the holidays coming up, I suppose we shouldn’t really expect much more than a check-in from our federal loan case manager. The time of year doesn’t make the waiting any easier.

One way I keep myself busy is by watching videos about improving my writing. Since I lost all of my writing resources, I need to build it all back up again. I’ve begun watching educational videos and filling more notebooks. I have almost completed the DIY MFA 101 (https://diymfa.com/) course that I started before the fire. I have just one more week in the current session, then I’m finished and will move on to something else. I’m one of those life-long learners.

As I’ve mentioned before, my Husky Meeka insists on a walk every morning. If she doesn’t get her way, she makes a scene and gets a little destructive. She has been known to chew up the dog bed and dig holes in the backyard. Nothing catastrophic, just annoying. And she won’t shut up. We average about a mile-and-a-half a day, some days less, some days more. Our average will start creeping up if she keeps going like she has the last week or so. Yesterday, we walked a little more than three miles.

Our walks take us by a boarding stable. The farm has at least four pastures, one bigger than the others combined, and boards at least fifteen horses. I love watching the horses when we walk by. I frequently see this beauty as we start our walk.

Sometimes, I walk by the big pasture, and a group has been let out to graze. One day this past week, they had just been let out and were frolicking at the far end. It was a sight to see eight to ten horses running and playing. I wish they had been closer; I would have filmed them. But from the other end of the pasture, all that would have been seen were black and brown dots changing position. I did manage to get a picture of them another day, though.

That day was neat because one of the horses approached the fence as I walked by and seemed to offer a nose. So I obliged and gave her my hand to sniff. She even let me rub her nose. On my way back by the pasture, about four horses followed me along the fence line. No one else offered a nose, though.

We bide our time the best we can, filling our days with learning, walking, watching, waiting, and taking one day at a time.