I feel satisfied with my current staff of six. The new gal is working out better than expected. I’m not taking on ANY new clients until the fall and even then I will make absolutely certain they are bestseller bound and will subscribe to my marketing model. I’m committed to 20-hour work weeks through the summer and will cut back on spending and increase saving. I’m going to finish writing my marketing book. I’m going to wake up OutsideTheBoxx.com, and write in my journal and keep my camera handy. I’m going to walk and play more, do Yoga EVERY day. I’m going to eat less, meditate more. I’m going to read books that I want to read, not just the ones I have to read for work.

Perhaps missing my May Day goal for the start of downsizing was a good lesson in remaining flexible and not forcing expectations. Shifting into balance on May 9 instead of May 1 is certainly better than next year, or never.

I weeded half my flower bed today, something I haven’t maintained for two years. I raked the lawn for a bit, went for a walk and a paddle, and lay in the sun to read for an hour. It clouded up heavily after noon and kept threatening to rain. Verga dripped veils all across the north, east, and western skies. Only the southern horizon remained true blue. Mosquitoes came out but not yet in droves. I watched a fish rise after a small Mayfly, though not a black drake. I walked halfway across the big field in order to get close enough to Brumby and Missy so they would hear me and come in for evening grain. Brumby was feeling feisty and ran off toward the forest so I turned and headed for the barn. He decided that was a better option and quickly caught up with me by loping for several hundred yards. That isn’t ordinary behavior for a 32 year old horse. Poor Missy came heaving along with her big belly and gimpy hind leg. She was damp and breathing loud by the time she got to her grain. Then, the most miraculous thing happened. While she was eating and I was rubbing her all over I saw her belly moving all over, toward the back end where her barrel meets hips. I put my hands hard and flat against her and got to feel the foal bumping all around. I don’t know if he was grumpy from all the jostling he’d had to put up with as she trotted her way to the barn, or if he’s turning around getting ready to push his soft little hooves into the birth canal and start making his way to freedom. We’ll see what the morning brings!

Birds I saw today: brown bat, northern flicker, American kestrel, sharp-shinned hawk, turkey vultures, red-tailed hawk, spotted sandpiper, gadwall ducks, American widgeon (two pair), mallards, cinnamon teal, blue-winged teal, bufflehead, hummingbird, house finch, yellow-rumped warbler, and I won’t even mention all the commonest birds.