What can I say? I'm single and over sixty, I write and I farm on eight acres of slowly improving red earth (it originally looked like Mars had exploded!) on Oak Creek in northern Arizona. I started with chickens, then there were turkeys and Jersey milk cows. But with livestock came the predators: coyotes, bald eagles, black hawks, mountain lions, and, worst of all, raccoons. Dang those nasty creatures! They kill just because they can; think dogs with opposable thumbs. (Five chickens in one night-they reached in through the chain link and killed the birds with no expectation of being able to eat them.) They are the reason I have my two amazing dogs, Moosie (an Akita/Sharpei mix) and Bear (a Hungarian Kuvasz). Moosie just loves to take on (and kill) the raccoons. As for the cats, I have seven and they're supposed to eat the gophers but, being cats, they prefer cat food, thank you very much. I've since given up cows (not forever, I hope) in favor of pigs and Dorper Sheep, a South African breed that doesn't need to be sheared and gains all their weight on grass alone, after an acquaintance informed me that they are "stupid simple" to raise. Stupid simple I can do! Hard to believe but I'm now a pig fanatic. Dogs with snouts, these massive but sweet girls do my rototilling. I continue to raise turkeys, but my precious Tom is beginning to show his age. What's coming up for me in the future? I've just finished my first full-length novel in the "Children of Graistan" series, "Awaken the Sleeping Heart." It's the story of Cecilia, the daughter of Geoffrey of Coudray. Now that this is done, I'll be working on my next mystery in the "Servant of the Crown" series, "The Final Toll," and keeping an eye on the farm while I do.
