Izzy, Marion. Hospice work. We have signed up for two new hospice patients and will meet them
next week. I am also interested in supporting a homeless shelter for teenagers in Washington County. Details to come.

 December 11, 2008 – A huge and nasty ice and snow storm is bearing down on the farm, and since I’m writing a novel about a farm during  a snowstorm, that could be exciting and relevant.
  I got a nice  e-mail yesterday from someone suggested that the good news about the country is that we may be entering a new, simpler era. I believe this and it is surely true in my own life.
  As a former media critic, I am intrigued and aware of how the media impacts our psyches and view of life. I don’t glamorize the past, but I hear people squawking all the time about how biased the media are, but the truth is, the real problem with media is that they tend to talk to the converted and are transmitters of round-the-clock hysteria and alarm, from the market to the weather to the future. NPR people listen to their thing, and Fox people get their own views supported. Yuk. I do recall when the ethos of some media was to inform, not excite, argue and alarm. A country without a focused and responsible news media will experience many panics, all the time. And arguments and hostility.
  It’s what they do on cable. Media have become, in my mind, a public health hazard, from NPR to CNN and Fox.
  Annie came over early and we  stacked the feeders and barns with hay in preparation for the storm. I will be out taking photos and hope the satellite stays up. Storm due to hit around 4 p.m., and go through the night, then turn to ice and more snow. I’d say a good bet to lose power. I will do some chores, get some food, check on the animals, make sure the de-icers are working, put the truck in the barn and try and get some serious fiction written, the elements and life willing.  I don’t want to get any news today, bad or otherwise.
  As long as I can, I will be blogging and putting up photos. And I want to write about this new, simpler era and how it is and will affect my life. I want to change. It is exciting, the light around the shadows.