Blogging and puppies.

I'm happy to be blogging again. It feels good to have this outlet.
I don't have anything in particular to say right now except that I think the primary reason I haven't written in here is because of having a puppy. People who know me mostly online may not realize that I'm fairly slow at many things. Not slow as in retarded, but I tend to take a long time doing tasks. It usually takes me at least an hour and sometimes two to do the dishes.
How this relates to my blogging and my puppy is that because of my slowness I tend to require a lot of sustained concentration to write. Owning a puppy makes it near impossible to have long periods of sustained concentration, except when she takes naps and during those times I usually have other things I need to take care of.
As she (Margaret the puppy) get's older she is far more independent and has lower energy levels, allowing me the quiet and calm needed for me to think and write.
This is one reason I chose to pursue a career in art making rather than writing. Although the first couple months having a puppy I made no art at all, once she got to the point where she didn't try to attack and eat anything she saw, I was able to start painting again. While her distractions can make it more difficult to paint, they don't make it impossible like with writing. Since I need fairly particular conditions that can't always be met to write, I feel that it might be bad news if my livelihood depended on writing.

Overall having a puppy has been nice. I walk her about 4 miles a day, which has been great for me in terms of getting exercise and having something physically difficult I have to do each day. I've been listening to podcasts and books on tape while we walk and I often meet other dog owners who tend to be friendly but are occasionally very mean (one particularly mean guy actually grabbed Margaret by her harness, lifted her about 5 feet into the air and threw her onto the ground! This was at a dog park, not while walking. Marget was scaring his dog by chasing it (which is how dogs play) but she never even touched his dog. I still feel mad when I think about him)