And so it goes

It's been a long time since my last post, and I do want to assure any readers I might still have left, that I have not been swallowed up by a freak sinkhole or swept away by a raging herd of water buffalo, or befallen any other accidents.  I have, on the other hand, been extraordinarily busy, at the same time as going through some time of introspection and thought, during which the blogging muse seems to have taken a hiatus.

Through the dark times of the past few months, I have been tremendously touched and honoured by the many friends who have sent support and love in various ways.  I cannot thank those people enough - and will return to this in later posts.  For now, I will just provide a brief update.

In short, I was able to get a job in early April, which has of course helped me be able to pay my bills and begin to feel less panic over my financial situation.  It's not a good job.  It's incredibly boring and does not use any of my skills or training, not to mention that it's about 1/5 of my former salary.  A high school student could do it with ease.  In that sense, it's frustrating and rather depressing, but it's at least a job.  The area where I live is very rural and jobs are hard to find, so there are few to no options for people with strong science and patent law background.

I also started a small entrepreneurial business venture in technical writing, editing, proofreading, and the like.  It's something that does actually use some of my skills, and I would rather be doing it full-time, but it is slow to build.  Also, any writing work I do has to be done on the weekends, or in the evenings, when I am not at my other job.  That means I can't take on too much, otherwise I won't be able to dedicate sufficient time and effort to it.  I hope that in the not too distant future, I will be able to focus exclusively on this business venture, or at least find something else that is more suitable for my skills and experience.

The combination of the day job and the writing has meant that I've had very little time for fibre arts, which is not ideal for me, since that is a source of stress relief and enjoyment for me.  I try to enjoy it in small doses when I can.

The animals are well, with the exception of a few chicken losses.  I still don't have a fence, and it's a major priority for me.  As you can see from the picture above, little Fezzik has come a long way over the winter and is really filling out and looking healthy.  I am so pleased about that.  I'm also starting to look at upgrading the heating system on the house so I don't have to sit around in multiple sweaters, scarves and mittens (indoors) next winter.  Fortunately I only had one incident of pipes freezing, but that was enough.

And finally, Richard has been coming round to help out with the farm from time to time.  Without getting into the details, we are considering whether it might be possible to repair the damages and put things back together, but this will take much time and thought.  For now, baby steps for me as I go forward.