ROW Check-In : Of Owls and Other Things

I'm not sure if I'm on time or a week late.  Last weekend was crazy busy, and I didn't get my check-in post up, so I decided that rather than posting late and continuing my perpetual cycle of lateness, I'd just wait for this Sunday and try to get back on track.

(This next part got longer than I planned, so if you're just looking for the ROW update, scroll down)

Last weekend was the first week for one of our farmers' markets here in Missoula, and my husband works with a guy who runs a booth with amazing breakfast burritos, so after my cycling class, we decided to go down and get one.  We didn't really end up buying much to take home - most of the produce is still of the type that you take home and plant in your own garden - but we had breakfast burritos, which were enormous and delicious, a fruit kabob, and fantastic donuts made with local ingredients.  After that, we walked downtown and got my husband a new wallet to replace his falling apart one, and up to the arts & crafts market to get some popcorn - kettle corn for him and huckleberry for me.  It was also one of the first nice days we'd had in a while, although it was windy, so it was pretty much a perfect morning.

I also did a bunch of laundry (why does laundry never end, anyway?) and dealt with a bunch of paperwork.  I can't seem to entirely conquer my packrat need to keep absolutely everything - though I am getting better at getting rid of some stuff - so I've started scanning things and shredding the originals.  At least it takes up less space in my house that way.

And Sunday evening, a friend and I went to see a rare Russian Teal that had apparently been blown off course, because it's really not supposed to be found in this area.  It was really far away from the pullout, and on private property, so we couldn't get close enough to take pictures, but some kind bird watchers let us look through their spotting scopes, so we at least got to see it.  After that, we decided we didn't want to go home yet because it was so nice outside, so we went down to Maclay Flats to walk along the paths there.  And we saw owls!  We were just walking along, and we heard this hooting, so we stopped to listen, and after determining the direction, left the path and tried to get closer.  And then of course, the sound stopped.  So we stood still and waited a while, but we didn't hear it again, so we went back to the path.  As soon as we got back, it started up again, so we walked back along the path in the other direction to see if we could see it around the curve.  Then we saw it take off, and it flew across the path and settled on a tree that was close enough for us to take pictures.  It was terribly exciting - I don't think I've ever seen a live owl before outside of the zoo.  Further on along the path, we saw another one, but the pictures aren't as good because he was backlit and further off the path.

So that's what I was doing last week instead of writing.  Honestly, if I don't write first thing in the morning on the weekends, it just doesn't get done.

And now for my ROW report:

1) Write 25,000 words

Since the last time I posted, I have written 6345 words for a total of 15524 this round.  Which is actually pretty awesome.  Even accounting for the fact that it's been two weeks since my last check-in post, that's more per week than I've written so far.  Yay!

2) Post on Blog once a week - besides check-in posts
My writing post round-up posts are up for both weeks, although I think it took me until Wednesday to post last week's.  This week's went up this morning.  Maybe one of these days I'll actually get the post up on Saturday, as planned.  But as I said, if I don't write first thing, it pretty much doesn't happen.

3) Write first draft of short story
No progress on this.  Maybe if I would start getting the blog post up on Saturdays, I wouldn't have to use my lunch hour writing time during the week for that and I would make some progress on the story.  This week.  Really.

4) Make progress on Last Words
Did some reading and note taking of the ghostly research variety.  I'm really hoping to capture that ghost story feeling with this project.

So that's it.  Happy writing, folks!