August 5, 2009 – Cool, dry. Lenore is loving the flood in the woods, and I have about 25 stinky sticks in a big pile near the farmhouse. She is working hard and diligently, and is very happy. I got a great e-mail from Renee, who thanked me for the photos of Lenore in the mud. “She has convinced me that a Lab is not the right dog for my family so we are pursuing a standard poodle that will retrieve but perhaps will not seek out mud.”
  This is a great e-mail to get. Labs are great, and I adore Lenore, but Labs are not for everybody and Renee is wide to choose a breed that suits her, rather than one that seems endearing or cute, or simply in need of rescue. Labs are big, powerful working dogs and they love mud, crud and revolting stuff. They are not for everybody. It is often insane the way Americans get dogs, and the reasons given – they are cute, they are troubled, they are abused, they are the right color.
  Renee is doing it the right way. Thinking about the dog she wants, and then getting a dog she can accept. The poodle is a lucky dog.

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  As I approach this next phase of my life – life with Maria, doing fiction, leaving the farm – it seems clear to me that the journey is really just beginning. I would not trade a day of my life on the farm for anything, nor do I doubt it is time to move on. I am getting to know me, good and bad, it is a major step for me to be comfortable with being what I am, and not needing so many other elements between me and the world. I accept the challenge of the writer – to use my imagination.
  I needed someone to share my life with, and I have found that. I love and need dogs in my life, for reasons I don’t totally understand. I need to be a writer and take pictures.This is a start. I intend to be just as open about what comes next as what has come before.
  I want to be clear that I am committed to this site, this journal of my life. In fact, we are undertaking a major re-design of the site, to make it simpler and more focused, as is happening with the rest of my life. The Farm Journal will remain the heart of the blog, here or anywhere else I go. The re-design is going to start showing up in the next week or so – this Journal page will remain the same, and I will keep you posted.

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The Poultney, Vt. Arts and Crafts Fair, to which Lenore, Maria and I are going on Saturday, will benefit the Poultney Historical Society. The Fair is in East Poultney, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.