the retired life - getting tired by nine, so i go to bed. but then i wake up easily at six, and feel it's all natural, to do this, to be wide awake, to watch the sunrise as i sit here typing. there is still a bit of snow, especially on the shady sides of things - but the new mexico sun beats down and melts most of it where we have cleared a few trees away. and i read about the "bomb cyclone" on the east coast, pounding such places as boston with a foot or two of snow. it's not that i'm jealous. on the contrary, i'm getting a little tired of the slick roads and steep curves.

my marketing is a little frustrating, both in that i get my books out only to a limited market, and that whatever aggressive marketing i do comes at the expense of actually writing stuff, which in the end would be more productive. i've become impatient with fantasy, more determined to write the real truth, get it right, document, etc. yet i go into my book, which i'm calling one woman's voice, and i have lots of loose ends - i'm a long way from finishing. recently i got into the photos, uploading them, labeling them, etc., and that helped. still so much to do!

our lives have been more than filled by four lively dogs who really need a lot of attention. the children who we gave the dogs to really kind of dropped the ball, left us with the dogs. my wife finds it hard to give away a dog but is at the point where she realizes, having four is like having a ball and chain. i think it's healthy to give four long walks - about two miles a day - and am trying to keep it up even through the bad weather. but i'll be the first to admit that we have about three too many, and we are both at the point, finally, of seeking retirement. i found myself seeking it a few years back but now i kind of sense my wife seeking it too. just wanting some peace. just wanting to sit and reflect.

for us, this is going to require some faith - that the last two of our children will achieve some measure of independence. by last two i mean numbers eight and ten, as nine is a little eager and has already achieved some. but eight and ten will have their own issues, and getting through school will be the first of them. we may have to change locations a time or two before they really get out the door. and changing locations may not in fact help everything.

a little too much of the personal - the sun is rising in the east - from which direction, we have roswell, and miles and miles of scrubby national forest, part wooded, part just open, and hot and dry. at this point, the land starts going downhill toward artesia and roswell, and the hot air starts coming down out of the mountains sapping up every bit of moisture there is. such things as the inch or two of snow up here, it's gone pretty quickly. to the west, you have a ridge, and a bit more snow - to the north, more mountains, more snow; to the south, a ridge or two of mountains then desert all the way down through el paso and into mexico.

going to a fire training this morning, but may take it online, if in any way that will work. i think, in the end, retirement is about pulling back, sitting in this chair for as much of it as i can handle.