Misty Mulberries

I took Basil for a walk in the mist this morning. We went down to the junction of the two rivers just outside town. St Pauls River (the smaller of the two) has a whole lot of Mulberry bushes growing along the bank where there's a picnic ground. I've not noticed the mulberries there before, not seen or tasted them for years. They're just coming into ripeness now too. Three interstate caravans where parked down there this morning too, fairly sure it's not a legal campsite, but they're not hurting anyone... so long as they clean up after themselves.

Dream Stealers stories are tough on me. They're not my normal taste in reading, but oddly I find them easier to write than what I would normally read. My first one had been cooking away in my brain for over twenty years before I had it ready for submission. I'm fairly sure these two I started today aren't going to take that long, and I'm making much better progress on them than I am on any of the other stories right now. It would make things easier on me if I just heard back about my first submission. Either way, acceptance or rejection, I just want to know. The scientist story seems to hold the most promise at the moment, so I think I'll focus on that and see if I can make something of it in a week or so. I need to redevelop some momentum. If it's going to take this long to find out about one submission, I need to have a much larger number of submissions out there so I can at least hear back about some/one a month maybe.

I'd been forgetting to take the garbage to the tip for the last couple of weeks. I put the "bin" in a shed in the backyard and kept forgetting it come garbage day... till today. The bin was pretty ripe when I dragged it out of the shed, so I let it sit for a couple of hours to hopefully dissipate the smell somewhat before I contaminated the car with it. Basil decided it was his bound and duty to sit guard by it under the cherry plum tree in the backyard. He even forsook looking over "his" sheep in the neighbours yard for the afternoon just to make sure nobody got to the bin... or was it to make sure the bin didn't get away? He does take his guard duty seriously. When we got back from the walk this morning he raced out the back to check up on his sheep, and whenever I go away from the house he sits by the front door waiting till I get back. He's not waiting for me, he doesn't even like me very much he's Paula's dog, but when I'm away from home he sees himself as the household protector. Just one small problem with this brave guard dog... well a few of them:
1} he's afraid of the dark.
2} he's not afraid of or even disturbed by Jehovah's Witnesses.
3} he barks at tradesmen, but only if they're visiting next door neighbours, not us.
4} he jumps up and nips at people (mostly me) when he gets excited.
5} he's afraid of the dark.
6} the holes he's digging in the yard are big enough to bury him in.
7} he destroys footwear if it's left on the ground... but only left shoes.
8} HE'S AFRAID OF THE DARK!