looking back, looking forward

Time flies. That can't have been a year already! I'm ringing in the new year in typical fashion... sitting at the computer. Looking around the room at my prospects for midnight smooches, they all have 4 legs and fur, so once again I can scratch that off the list. Dang! ;-)

Actually it's been a pretty nice day. I got up late, went into Elk Grove to photograph the falcon (see previous post), ate lunch, paid some bills and went to the post office, gave Angus a bath, took Angus for a short walk, did a little cleaning in the house, baked two batches of cupcakes for tomorrow, washed the dishes, went through the falcon photos, ate dinner, frosted the cupcakes, washed more dishes, set up tables and chairs, watched Return of the Jedi (I always watch the trilogy around this time of year, I love love love those movies!!!!!!!!!), showered, put out a bunch of candles on all the tables, and here I sit, blogging. It's 15 minutes til midnight right now. Yeah, I'm like super exciting, right? ;-)

Recently I was reading some stuff I'd written about a year ago, and was struck by the things that didn't happen that I thought would happen. I actually thought the Standard would get finished and be available in 2010. Ho ho, no no. Early 2011, so I have heard. And I actually thought, a year ago, that by the time the book came out, I would no longer have my chickens. That was the plan, a year ago, to sell all but a few favorites, and I had every intention of doing that but when it came down to it, I knew I'd still be trying to breed good birds even if I just kept a few, and that would drive me batty if I didn't have a flock that was capable of producing anything. So I sold a lot of them, I think it was almost half the breeding flock, but I kept about 25 breeder birds.

So yeah, I still have plenty of chickens. WAY less than I used to, but still more than I need or even want. I'm planning to attend three shows in January/February. I have no idea what I'll decide to do, bird-wise, after that. I still think I could be content to cut back to just the BBReds, but that means finding suitable buyers for all the rest, and that's always the sticky part. It's complicated.

Anyway, enough about chickens.

2010 had some really good things going for it. I did some awesome stuff. Of course the two things that stand out the most are the cross-country drive to Georgia and back with Jan, and my trip to Wyoming to show my art. That's all pretty priceless stuff! If you *still* haven't seen the pics, they're linked in the right sidebar. I made new friends, I've seen new places, I've discovered how much I really LIKE long-distance driving, and I even caught myself looking at a map today wondering if I should do it again. Probably I won't, but I know that I could, and even that counts for something!

Oh, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....... Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!! Wheeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hear gun shots. Welcome to the country. ;-)

But let's be honest here, 2010 was a really tough year. I'm lucky and grateful to be in the situation I'm in, but there are so many people out there who are in dire straights and I hope things turn around in 2011.

Do I have goals? Yup, and I'm going to write them down and stick them in a place where I will see them all the time. Sorry, not going to post them on line. There will be some big changes in the next year. :-) Keep an eye out here and I'll tell you all about it as the year unravels.

For now, I must go to bed, because tomorrow is going to be very busy. :-)

Seriously though, I'm sending out good thoughts to all of you who read this. Thank for you reading my blog. I didn't know what I was getting into when I first started this, and I have to marvel sometimes at the ways in which we people get connected all over the world. It means a lot that there are people out there who think that my life (which seems pretty bland to me!) is worth reading about. :-)