An interesting week ahead. My birthday is Saturday, I have arranged a sort of home-made birthday celebration. Tomorrow (Thursday,) we set out for Dover, Vermont. I am speaking at the annual Dessert Social at the Dover Library, 7 to 9 p.m. I asked if a lot of folks would be watching the presidential debate, but the organizers sort of chuckled and said, no, that wouldn’t be a problem.

At first, I declined the kind invitation, I said it was too close to my birthday. But then, since funds are scarce, I had this idea. How about giving me two a room at a nice inn in Vermont for two days instead of a speaking fee. They happily agreed, so we head out for two days. I will actually be home at the farm on my  birthday, Saturday, but we’ll celebrate it a bit on Thursday. I will be 68 – wow.

I am not all that big on birthdays, it is no achievement to grow older each year, we all do it. I downloaded two mysteries and a novel (Infinite Home, by Kathleen Alcott) on my Kindle, Maria and I are exhausted and we are looking forward to two days of reading and disconnecting from the outer world.

Next week, Sunday through Tuesday or Wednesday, I am turning off the blog and focusing on finishing my next book, “Talking To Animals,” I need to focus on it for a bit, and the blog is sometimes just two much in my head. For nearly two years, I wrote several times a week about the New York Carriage Horses.

That controversy is quieting, at least for now. The mayor’s effort to ban the horses has failed quite spectacularly, and the horses are not speaking to me every night, as they were. They must feel good about their status. I have a genius for writing about things I don’t get paid for, but this was a labor of love for me. It did push back my book writing a bit, I have to bear down now and finish it. I am very excited about it.

The horses awakened me to a much broader issue, the deepening conflict between people who have animals and people who have pets. I have also been drawn to the ongoing story of Joshua Rockwood, a young farmer from Glenville, N.Y., who I believe has been unjustly accused of animal cruelty. He is now a bit in limbo, waiting for the judge to rule on a number of motions. At some point, unless the charges are dismissed, as they should be, the trial will resume.

I am a blogger now as much or more as a book author, but I love books and love being an author, so I need to pay attention to that for a couple of days. When I wake up in the morning, my head is full of posts I need to put up and photos I need to take. I need for my head to be full of my book for a day or so. So early next week, the blog will be quieter than usual, I will post in the evenings.

And I’ll be gone until Saturday.