"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing." - Wernher Von Braun

I get a variety of emails from my undergrad alma mater, mostly messages meant to hype the college. Colleges and universities are all about hype these days because the pool of available students and the dollars they bring is limited. Small private colleges are under particular pressure and many that have been around for a very long time are shutting their doors. Alumni are an important resource for dollars and for students - their children and those they can influence.

Here's a line from an email I got from the college this morning. The context: they want us to write a testimonial about our decision to attend and our time there that they can use in promo literature. Anyone who submits is entered to win one of two $50 Amazon gift cards.

Regarding your decision to attend, "Where you town between several options?"
Hmmmm.

I feel like a parent who has sent their child off to the first day of school. My manuscript is in the hands of three men who will read and evaluate it for content. I asked for a 30-day turn around and they've had it for two.
I'm not sure I can make it through a whole month. This is killing me.

It rained ALL day. Much of the day it poured, as in rain so heavy that we couldn't see clearly to the trees on the other side of the creek. Or, as in way too hard to go for a run no matter how committed I am. Our roads don't have any shoulder; the white line is at the very edge of the pavement and beyond that it goes down into a ditch. Cars would have trouble seeing me and I can't get off the roadway.
But that's OK, 'cause yesterday's run has my legs in no mood to do even a jog.

Goats are wusses and do NOT like getting wet. They've all been inside all day.

On the matter of goats, it's time to pay attention to Stella's heat cycle because breeding her is about three months out. The ideal is to breed her so that she's 2 years old when she kids. So we back up five months (the gestation period for goats) from August and we're late Feb. or early March.
Boer goats come into heat approximately every 21 days, and Stella is in heat NOW! Signs include (but are not limited to) a twitching tail and lots of bleating. She's been sounding off All. Day. Long. and her tail looks like she's trying to flag down the fifth fleet.
Then there's the matter of her rear end which is, uhm, showing extreme readiness for some serious lovin'.
I've marked Dec. 1st on the calendar to see if this happens again. If I keep close track of things I'll know if she's the standard 21 days, or a day or two either way. That will make breeding her a lot easier. Apart from knowing a goat is in heat the only option is to leave her in with a buck for a full month.

The entertainment industry is starting to look like it's populated with sexual predators and perverts.
Politics, too.
Surprise, surprise.